


a boy who was kind, and honest, and brave, and true

by _helios (neocitz)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, M/M, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-03-24 08:18:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 33,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13807242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neocitz/pseuds/_helios
Summary: Donghyuck just wants to get through his sixth year of Hogwarts quietly and efficiently, without anyone thinking he's going to curse them.Unfortunately, his plans are disrupted by an over-hyped inter-school competition, detention, and a surprisingly persistent and not at all charming Durmstrang champion.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> three guesses whose fault this is. 
> 
> i wanted to write something a bit different to shitty!supes and donned the tin foil hat of a hyukhei shipper for this fic. i'd like to thank nini helping turn this from a random me screaming at her about hogwarts!au to it actually becoming a fully formed fic idea. 
> 
> fic title from the film version of the goblet of fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> un-beta'd (when is it ever?)

A month and a half into his sixth year, Donghyuck spells Jaemin’s voice away.

The blessed, blessed silence is almost worth the fallout.

‘Mr Lee,’ Professor Neilson says, ‘why did you feel it was necessary to silence Mr Na?’ 

The History of Magic professor is standing in the doorway to their dormitory, arms crossed in front of him as he stares down the two boys. Once upon a time, Donghyuck actually respected him. But that was when Donghyuck was eleven years old and conditioned to think that adults are right and children are wrong. Now, he just rolls his eyes and turns back to his potions essay.

‘Mr Lee,’ Professor Neilson repeats, and Donghyuck holds back a groan. ‘I will not ask again.’

‘Professor Neilson, I have a potions essay due in,’ Donghyuck flicks his wand and his watch flies over from his bedside table, ‘two hours. I really need to finish it.’

Neilson’s lips press into a thin line and he steps into the dormitory room. Behind him is the usually abandoned corridor leading to the Common Room, Donghyuck catches the glimpse of a curious second year that’s watching the exchange with wide eyes. Donghyuck sneers at the kid, who flinches, and flicks his wand again.

The door slams shut behind Neilson.

He starts at the sound.

Donghyuck lets out a soft huff of a laugh, and Neilson fixes his eyes back on Donghyuck. Or rather the wand that Donghyuck’s holding. Donghyuck twirls his wand in his loose grip, the familiar feeling of polished blackwood running across his knuckles, and notes that way that Neilson’s grip tightens around his own wand.

Donghyuck clears his throat, just a small cough, and Neilson’s gaze jumps up to meet his. The man swallows, and strides deeper into the room so he’s standing in the middle of it. Despite the fact he’s pushed his shoulders back and tipped his chin up, Neilson looks washed out and pale in the pathetic lighting of their room.

‘Why did you cast the spell, Mr Lee?’

‘Because, _Professor_ , I need to finish this essay. And he wouldn’t shut up.’ There’s more to it, but Donghyuck’s fairly sure that Neilson wouldn’t care that Jaemin told the first years that Donghyuck would summon a monster to wait under their beds if they didn’t brush their teeth properly. Hell, Neilson might actually believe the bullshit.

‘Then why didn’t you ask him to leave the room? Or find another room to work in?’

‘And you think I didn’t try that?’ Donghyuck actually laughs, a bitter sound that he regrets as soon as it leaves his lips because Neilson’s eyes narrow and nose flares.

‘Mr Lee, if you do not remove the spell on Mr Na, I will be forced to take points from Slytherin,’ he says, as if Donghyuck has _any_ feelings towards wining the coveted House Cup.

Donghyuck looks to the silent Jaemin, who’s lying on his bed and flicking through his Arithmancy textbook, and shrugs. ‘He doesn’t look too worried about it. Can’t I leave it in place until I finish my essay?’

Jaemin flips the bird at him.

‘Fifteen points from Slytherin,’ Neilson snaps, ‘each.’

‘Oh no,’ Donghyuck mutters, he turns away from Neilson and taps his essay with his wand to correct a few of the misspelt words. He’s about fifteen minutes away from being done with the wretched thing, but of course Neilson won’t let him finish his work. Aren’t teachers supposed to ensure that their students pass or something? ‘The whole house is going to hate me for this, whatever am I going to do? How will I deal with the animosity of a whole house?’

Jaemin’s laughing, and Donghyuck knows that if the spell wasn’t sitting in his throat it would be irritating loud and echoing throughout the room. Donghyuck wishes it was, just to break the tension of having to deal with Neilson, but he knows that if he removes the spell then Neilson would treat it as some sort of victory.

‘Mr Lee, I am not appreciating your attitude.’

‘Professor Neilson, I’m not appreciating you being an arsehole.’

He regrets it as soon as he says it. Donghyuck sick and tired of people like Neilson, and toes the line between standing up for himself and getting himself into trouble. He does his best to fly under the radar, for the most part, but in times like these his mouth works quicker than his brain and he’s left with a bitter taste on the back of his tongue.

‘… Detention, next Friday afternoon’

Jaemin’s laughter somehow gets bigger, his shoulders shaking as he drops his textbook. Donghyuck scowls, and flicks a stinging hex his way. It earns him another day of detention.

 

 

‘I don’t get why he felt like he needed to intrude on personal affairs like that,’ Donghyuck says as he shovels a serve of mashed potato onto his plate. ‘I mean, it’s none of his business what Jaemin and I do outside of class.’

‘Except that he _is_ a teacher, and he has a duty of care.’

It’s a familiar argument between Donghyuck and Renjun, with Renjun providing the logic and levity that Donghyuck likes to ignore.

‘To who? Because it certainly wasn’t towards me or Jaemin.’

Donghyuck and his friends huddle around the end of the Hufflepuff table, their backs to the majority of the Great Hall. It’s been “their spot” since second year, when they were brave enough to forgo the silent protocol of sitting with your housemates and your housemates only. Four years later, and the Hufflepuffs have just come to accept to accept the fact that Jaemin and Donghyuck would do just about anything to sit at their table.

They don’t even bother forcing Jaemin and Donghyuck to sit at the Slytherin table for feasts anymore.

‘How are we supposed to know?’ Jeno leans up to look around the Great Hall. ‘Whoever reported the spell to him, I guess?’

‘Roach,’ Donghyuck spits.

‘Think it was one of yours?’ Jeno’s gaze moves to the entirety of the Slytherin table, all the way on the other side of the hall. ‘Could have been that Park kid?’

‘Jisung? Nah, he’s one of the good ones,’ Jaemin shakes his head. All four of them are looking at the Slytherin table now, and Donghyuck can’t ignore the way that some of the younger students are starting to whisper around them. ‘Wouldn’t have been a Slytherin anyway. I mean, we’re not _Hufflepuff Loyal_ or any of that fuckery, but we don’t turn our backs on each other like that. It’s underhand.’

‘And here I thought Slytherin was just a synonym for underhand,’ Jeno turns back to Jaemin and his grin is wide, bright and full of shit. Donghyuck aims a sharp elbow into Jeno’s side and gets a satisfying squirm and grunt in response.

‘I’m betting it was one of the Gryffindors, probably thinking they’re being _noble_ by ratting out another student.’ Jaemin scans the Gryffindor table with dark, dark eyes. Once upon a time, when they were a mere eleven years old and wandering into Hogwarts for the first time, people thought that Jaemin was the sweetest out of the little group of friends.

That notion was dispelled by day three of their first year.

Donghyuck muffles a laugh at the way a Ravenclaw flinches back at Jaemin’s gaze, before rearranging his face into something colder, sterner.

Closer to what the students expect of him.

‘It was in our dorms though, I don’t know how the Gryffindors could have heard about it.’ Donghyuck and Jaemin hadn’t left the dormitory the entire time the spell had been cast.

‘You’re kidding, right? All the kids in Hufflepuff were asking about it,’ Renjun laughs. ‘Someone came up to Jeno and asked if it was true you had removed Jaemin’s vocal cords.’

‘I said yes, by the way.’

Donghyuck finds it easier and easier these days to list Renjun as the only nice, decent and good friend he has in his life. If they ever almost get eaten by a dragon (again) then he would sacrifice Jaemin and Jeno first. He would say nice things at their funeral, but if it’s the only way to survive, then it’s the only way to survive.

‘Why couldn’t it have been Professor Bae?’ he complains instead, because he can’t let Jeno or Jaemin know about his plan. Sacrificial ritual to a dragon probably requires the target not knowing before they get thrown into a pit for being a terrible friend.  ‘Wouldn’t have matter who went up to her, she would have been fair about it!’

Professor Bae would have been reasonable and he might have actually removed the silencing spell from Jaemin sooner rather than later if she had been the one to talk to Donghyuck. There’s a reason that she’s Donghyuck’s favourite teacher in the school, and it’s not just because she’s the only witch in 200 years who has managed to pull the West Wing out of the base of the Owlery Tower.

‘Because she’s headmistress and has better things to do than deal with your shit?’

‘I’ll fucking silence you again, just wait,’ Donghyuck waves his fork at Jaemin. It’s not as effective as his wand, but it’s good enough.

‘Please, I _let_ you silence me, I could have undone that spell at any point.’ Jaemin stands up, bracing his hand on the table to lean over Donghyuck.

‘Then why didn’t you? Oh yeah, because I’m better at magic than you!’

Donghyuck’s grin is mean, he knows it, as he rises to meet Jaemin. The effect is somewhat ruined by the fact that Jaemin is taller than him and Donghyuck has to look up. So Donghyuck brings his fork up higher, holding it between them as the only threat that he has.

‘Boys!’ Renjun hisses. ‘Can we just, for once, have dinner without somebody getting hexed?’

Donghyuck inhales, a steady breath, and sits back down. He doesn’t need to look around to know that half of Hogwarts stopped eating to look at him, can hear the way the chatter of the room faded to low mumble for a moment. He feels his ears turn hot, and Jeno’s hand sits lightly between his shoulder blades as the Hufflepuff glares at some of the students from across the hall.

‘Sorry guys,’ Donghyuck mutters, slipping down lower into his seat. He can’t help looking around him, at the confused and almost scared expressions of the younger students. Some of them gasp and spin away before he can fully process their stares, and Donghyuck’s gaze searches the student body even though he knows it’s a terrible, terrible idea.

One boy looks at him with wide, curious eyes and after too long a moment of eye-contact, he laughs. Donghyuck can’t hold the gaze any longer and instead looks back down at his knees. Assholes.

‘Not your fault,’ Jaemin looks contrite as he says it, ‘I didn’t help any either.’

‘Still, you shouldn’t have to watch every little thing you do just because of me.’

Donghyuck might have been the sort of person that preened and thrived under the attention, if it wasn’t so hostile and he wasn’t so aware of why people looked at him.

‘It’s not on us,’ Jaemin shrugs with the most imperious of looks on his face. He looks every bit the pureblood Slytherin he was raised to be. ‘They’re the ones that are being assholes, we’re not doing anything wrong.’

Despite the fact that he would sacrifice two-thirds of his friends to a dragon if need be, Donghyuck is incredibly grateful for the boys in his life.

 

 

Halfway through dinner, Professor Bae stands and claps her hands once.

The sound echoes, bounces off the glass windows that line the Great Hall and silences the entire room as they look to the Headmistress.

‘Students, teachers,’ she says, her voice strong and powerful and level as a spell amplifies it just slightly. ‘ _Guests_.’

The guests in question had arrived the Wednesday prior, with no small ceremony.

Beauxbatons flew in first, their horses landing on the grounds with a majestic sweep of their wings. The students filed out of the large carriages in two lines with polite smiles, pressed silk uniforms shining in the cool, morning sun, and made their way into the castle. Donghyuck hasn’t heard much of them since their arrival as they retreated to the guest quarters of the North Wing to settle in.

Donghyuck thought the celebratory feast to welcome them would have occurred that night, but it never did.

It was over twelve hours later, when the sun had set over the Black Lake, that Durmstrang finally made an appearance. There was no official welcoming ceremony for either school, but students waited for the second of the two schools to arrive even as it got closer and closer to curfew. Eventually, a Gryffindor’s cry echoed through Hogwarts and half the school rushed down to the lake to watch Durmstrang’s ship rise out of the depths of the lake.

Their students, in comparison to Beauxbatons’, were more tired and lethargic as they were shepherded into the guest quarters.

Donghyuck has gotten the glimpse of a few of them as he wandered through the corridors of Hogwarts, but he hasn’t cared enough about either school to try and find out more about their students. Frankly, his potions assignment and his arithmancy paper had been far more pressing an issue as their deadlines drew closer.

He knows what the other students are here for, almost everyone in fifth and sixth year do.

‘I’d like to formally welcome the students and staff of both Beauxbatons and Durmstrang to Hogwarts,’ Professor Bae continues. ‘It’s been five years since our schools have come together like this.

‘Five years, since the last Triwizard Tournament.’

The buzz of conversation ripples through the students of Hogwarts, the younger years exchanging impressed and excited glances. It seem that even the occasional six and seventh year student are surprised about the announcement.

‘For our younger students, who may have heard only rumours of the tournament, this is a time where the three schools come together both in unity and competition. Our schools have worked with the Ministry of Magic to develop an event that is both challenging and entertaining. And tonight’s feast symbolises the start of the tournament.’

Excited whispers spread through the school as the Hogwarts students look at the visiting students with a more discerning eye. The twenty newcomers are no longer guests, but competition.

‘I am well aware that many of you do not care about the rules or formalities of this event,’ Professor Bae continues with a small laugh, ‘so those who are interested in participating are encouraged to discuss the tournament with their head of house. For the remaining students, just know this: in three weeks, at our annual Halloween feast, our challengers will be selected.’

She finishes the speech with this little knowing smirk, looking across the hall. Donghyuck has no doubt that she’s probably picking out the potential choices for Hogwarts Champion.

‘A Triwizard Tournament,’ Jeno hisses. ‘Do you think we’ll be able to compete?’

‘Fat chance,’ Jaemin snorts. ‘Remember when we were first years? Only seventh years were allowed to apply to go to Beauxbatons for the tournament.’

‘But still, we’re the host school – it might have been a decision made because they didn’t want to take too many students across to France.’

‘Jeno,’ Donghyuck shakes his head, lips pressed together into a disappointed expression. ‘First of all, it’s obvious that whoever is chosen is going to be some sort of pride child of the school anyway. Secondly, why would you even _want_ to apply for the tournament? It’s just a waste of time and energy to show off how great our school is, probably trying to get some donations or something from the parents.’

‘Merlin, bitter much?’ Jeno says with a bark of a laugh. ‘I’m just saying, it’d be pretty cool to graduate with the title of Triwizard Champion.’

‘You know what’s also pretty cool? _Graduating.’_

‘We get it, you’re not a fan of the Triwizard Tournament,’ Renjun laughs.

‘My parents have not shut up about me being Hogwarts Champion since the last tournament,’ Donghyuck groans. ‘Like that was going to do anything that would actually convince me to put my name forward.’

‘Do you even have time to be Hogwarts Champion?’

‘I barely have enough time to floss, what do you think?’ Donghyuck scowls even as his friends laugh around him.

‘Who do you think will be the Hogwarts Champion? Keeping in mind your criteria,’ Jaemin asks.

‘Probably someone like Chan Lee,’ Donghyuck points to the Hufflepuff at the head of the table they’re sitting on. ‘Good all-rounder, friendly face of the school and all that nonsense.’

‘One of the Parks?’ Jaemin suggests.

‘I wouldn’t trust either of them to be the face of Hogwarts,’ Renjun says, looking at where Park One has Park Two in a headlock.

Donghyuck laughs. ‘I would.’

‘Who else?’ Jeno looks around the hall, and Donghyuck can’t help but consider the faces of the people in their year-level and the year-level above them. Frankly, it was easier to work out who wouldn’t be a champion than it was to work out who would.

‘Mark Lee?’ Renjun suggests.

‘Fuck, you’re probably right,’ Donghyuck looks at the boy in question. He's the best choice for the job, by a ridiculously long mile. Gryffindor prefect, Quidditch Captain and top student. Donghyuck has always considered himself lucky that Mark is just too awkward to be Head Boy. ‘This is going to suck even more.’

‘I thought we liked Mark,’ Jeno says confused.

‘Imagine him as Hogwarts Champion. He’d be like awh-shucks, thanks mister to the professors. They’d be constantly going on about being more like Mark. And he’d probably be able to maintain his grades whilst dealing with the tournament.’

‘Isn’t that a good thing?’

‘That level of competency must always be judged accordingly,’ Donghyuck sneers.

 

 

The news of the Triwizard Tournament sparks through the school, bringing them up to a level of excitement that only zips through the school prior to the Quidditch finals. Even the younger students who can’t participate are ready for the tournament to begin, whispering about who they think is going to participate and who will win.

‘See, I told you, it’s just a big spectacle,’ Donghyuck gestures to some whispering third years who are sneaking a look at the Beauxbatons students.

The thing is that once the Hogwarts students ran out of ideas on who was going to be Hogwarts Champion, they started on the other two schools. The discussions and predictions had spread throughout the student body in a matter of days, and Donghyuck was no stranger to hearing things like _the tall one from Durmstrang_ or _that Beauxbatons wizard who looks like he could fist-fight a troll_.

At least, he reasons when he’s got a moment, they’re not whispering about him anymore.

‘We get it, you have more important things to think about than the biggest event of the year,’ Jaemin snarks back as they cross the school. ‘You’ve only told us about eleventy-thousand times.’

‘That’s not a real word,’ Donghyuck says as primly as he can manage.

‘Your face isn’t a real word,’ Jaemin hisses back. Jeno breathes out a laugh that is not appreciated, and receives a sharp elbow into his ribs.

‘Just ignore it if you don’t care, it’s not like you _have_ to get irritated and huffy about it,’ Renjun says, rolling his eyes as he hikes his bag further up his shoulder, laden with books.

They make their way across the courtyard to their abandoned classroom, an empty room that Professor Bae had quietly tipped them off about at the start of the year. After the debacle of trying to study for their OWLs the year before, with the pressure of unknown eyes staring at them and whispers echoing through the library whenever Donghyuck was trying to work, they’d decided that it would be easier to find a new study location for their NEWTs.

‘You know that he does,’ Jeno grins, swinging an arm around Donghyuck. ‘It’s part of why we love him.’

‘Debatable,’ Donghyuck snorts even as he leans into Jeno’s hold.

‘You can’t say you’re not interested in working out who they’ll be,’ Jaemin links onto Donghyuck’s other side and he almost collapses under the weight of his combined friends.

‘Not at all,’ he says. ‘I’ve had more important things to think about.’

‘Like what?’

‘… Detention, for example,’ Donghyuck scrunches up his nose slightly as he says it. He’s no stranger to detention, as much as it pains him to say it, but he gains absolutely no pride from it. ‘Professor Neilson saw it fit to send me an owl to remind me that I have detention this week.’

‘Damn, that man can hold a _grudge_ ,’ Jeno whistles, low and long. ‘Remember when we were twelve and he literally took note of stuff that happened after the house cup but before we left for home? Just so that he could deduct points the next year?’

‘What an _ass_ , I don’t know why he’s still working here,’ Donghyuck tsks.

‘He’s also, like, the best history teacher this school has had in almost two hundred years,’ Renjun says.

‘That’s not saying much, there’s only been two in the last two hundred years and one was a ghost.’

‘Why don’t you become the next History of Magic professor then?’

Donghyuck is so offended at Renjun’s joke that he pulls away from Jaemin and Jeno to glare at him.

‘I can’t believe you would say something as awful as that? Me, willingly returning to this hellhole just to teach something as mind numbing as _history_. I am offended, Renjun Huang, offended.’

‘You’re always offended,’ Renjun shakes his head. ‘But you’ve still got it this coming Friday?’

‘Yeah,’ Donghyuck crinkles his nose.

‘But that’s when the game is going to be,’ Jeno whines. ‘You said you’d come to the first game this year!’

‘That was before I knew I was getting detention, and it’s not even an official game or anything!’

The thing is that even though Donghyuck hates Quidditch, thinks it’s an uncivilised display of brute force, Jeno is on the Hufflepuff team. So, he has to go lest Jaemin and Renjun get on his back about not being a supportive friend.

He made a promise to attend the first game of the season, and any game that has the word final in the title, and so far he’s kept that promise decently well. Sure, he spends most of his time daydreaming, but he’s _there_ and has been there for three years.

Until, of course, Neilson decides to be an asshole and give Donghyuck detention _and_ the house captains agree to a friendly game against Beauxbatons and Durmstrang. It’s not his fault, by any means, and it almost gives him an excuse to stay out of the mass of students who don’t want him there as much as he doesn’t want to be there. But it disappoints his best friend.

‘I’ll go to your first house game, I promise,’ Donghyuck says, even as it pains him inside to think of the sweaty, screaming mass of Hufflepuffs he’s going to have to surround himself with for the event.

Still, the grin on Jeno’s face when Donghyuck says that is almost worth how terrible watching Quidditch is.

‘We’ll drag him to the practice if we have time as well,’ Jaemin adds and it’s only out of loyalty and almost fifteen years of friendship that Donghyuck doesn’t complain immediately. Because the games, he kind of gets, it allows you to get the rush of competition (if you’re one of those people) and all that sort of nonsense.

But practice is tossing a ball back and forth with no meaning. It’s sitting in the cold, as they try over and over again to get the perfect hit, the perfect throw and the perfect manoeuvre. It’s pointless and boring, and with the weather getting cooler, it’s just a drag to be seated outside on the Quidditch Pitch waiting for the Hufflepuffs to finish.

One would think that after all this time, Donghyuck would have an idea of how Quidditch is played, and yet it still goes over his head. In his defence, there are a lot of unnecessary aspects of the game and a lot of confusing fouls.

‘Great,’ he groans. ‘But only if I can bring my charms homework with me.’

‘You’d just try to sneak it in if we didn’t let you,’ Jaemin grins, as if he won’t spend half his time bent over Donghyuck’s shoulder trying to decipher his notes. Donghyuck only lets him get away with it because Jaemin is better at arithmancy and not too painful about going over the equations with Donghyuck when they have time.

‘I’m not that bad,’ he complains.

‘Yes, you are,’ the others almost chorus together.

Donghyuck doesn’t hate it when his friends team up on him not really, but he forces a pout on his face as he looks to them. ‘I can’t believe that you guys would betray me like this.’

It draws another combined laugh from the three of them. Donghyuck rolls his eyes again, unable to believe what he puts up with on a daily basis when his shoulder collides with someone bigger, taller, _stronger._

‘Watch where you’re going,’ Jaemin snaps, tipping his head up to look at the other student.

It doesn’t take an idiot to notice that Renjun and Jeno have slipped on to either side of Donghyuck, as Jaemin steps forward. Intellectually, they all know that Donghyuck can look after himself, but it’s moments like these when Donghyuck’s voice gets caught in his throat and he looks everywhere but at the person in front of him.

‘Right,’ the guy says, and his voice is _so low_ that Donghyuck can’t help the ways his eyes dart up to the other. ‘Sorry about that.’

Even though he says the words slowly and carefully, he doesn’t sound sincere at all. Instead, his lips are brought up into this smug smile as he looks down at Donghyuck. The other boy must be a student from Beauxbatons or Durmstrang, because Donghyuck doesn’t immediately recognise him. He’s familiar, perhaps Donghyuck’s seen him in passing over the last week, but Donghyuck doesn’t know anything about him.

And yet it seems that this boy has already made some decisions about Donghyuck.

The boy nods at all of them, making careful and steady eye contact with first Jaemin, then Jeno and Renjun, before finally meeting Donghyuck’s gaze. His smile grows even more, crossing into something that is almost a grin and Donghyuck remembers that grin. The boy who had laughed at the feast last week.

‘I’ll try to be more careful next time,’ he says before walking off in long, striding steps.

‘Asshole,’ Jaemin hisses. He steps back, pressing into Donghyuck’s side and it would have almost been a hug if not for the fact that half the student body is surrounding them. ‘Sorry that people like that exist, Hyuck.’

‘Who was that, anyway?’ Renjun asks.

They all turn to Jeno, the unwilling popular one of their little group. He sighs.

‘Lucas Wong, from Durmstrang. He’s one of the front runners for Durmstrang champion.’

‘Do we know much about him?’

‘Friendly, he’s already close with some of the Seventh Years.’ Jeno shrugs though, and Donghyuck can’t blame him. Even with Jeno's connections it’s bound to  be difficult to find out everything about this kid.

‘Should we add him to the list?’ Jaemin asks and Donghyuck shakes his head.

The last person they added to the list was Jennifer Dagwood who graduated three months late because it took that long for her hands to return to a more human-like shape.

‘Nah, not worth it,’ Donghyuck exhales. He’s used to old faces, familiar patterns, and he’s worked out about Wong now. He won’t make the same mistake again.

‘We'll keep an eye on him,’ Renjun says, lips pressed into a thin line. ‘For now, let’s just lay low a bit.’

 

 

After three days of classwork, where Donghyuck simultaneously nails almost all the work and then gets side-eyed for it, he’s strong armed down to the Quidditch Pitch.

It’s far too soon for him, and he mutters his displeasure into Renjun’s ear as the surprisingly strong boy drags him into the seats.

‘Why do I have to do this?’ he whines.

‘Because you’re his friend. And as a friend, you should support him.’

‘Yeah,’ Jaemin smirks. ‘Injunnie and I are his friends and we’re supporting him without complaining. Why is it always only you who complain.’

‘That is the biggest lie,’ Donghyuck sneers. ‘You’re only not complaining because you guys want to skip off into the sunset with his ugly ass. Well, newsflash, he’s Captain Oblivious. Good luck, you need it.’

‘First of all, he’s not ugly,’ Jaemin starts but Renjun raises a single hand to silence Jaemin.

‘We don’t appreciate your baseless predictions, we’re _working on it_ ,’ and it’s disgusting how Jaemin follows it up with a nod.

‘Also, don’t be disgusting,’ Jaemin continues once Renjun finishes talking. ‘Skip off into the sunset, what kind of Hufflepuff bullshit is that.’

Renjun groans.

‘What? It _is_ , babe,’ Jaemin protests.

‘Please stop being disgusting in front of me, or Jeno will look over during practice and see my rotting corpse. And then he’ll never date either of you and it’ll be because you killed me.’

‘You’re just jealous because you’re never going to date him,’ Jaemin sniffs.

‘Why would I _want to_?’ Donghyuck sneers in genuine, genuine disgust. ‘I don’t know how you guys forgot about his gross third year.’

‘He was so cute,’ Jaemin sighs and Renjun lets out this little sound of agreement. Donghyuck actually recoils, when he was thirteen, Jeno genuinely didn’t shower for four days. He doesn’t know how Jaemin and Renjun delude themselves about Jeno. Or how they delude themselves about each other.

If this is what it’s going to be throughout the practice, Donghyuck might just scream.

The stands aren’t packed, but they’re busier than usual when Donghyuck and his friends arrive at the Quidditch Pitch. There’s a mix of students, houses intermingled as they recline against the benches.

Donghyuck has to admit that it’s a nice afternoon for it. The sun is warm but not hot and there’s barely any wind on the Quidditch Pitch. If it weren’t for the fact that he was here to observe Quidditch, he wouldn’t have minded being out here.

The team is a hodgepodge of players from sixth and seventh year, most of them the most experienced players at Hogwarts. The only exception is the particularly loud Hufflepuff Seeker from fifth year who Renjun is particularly fond of.

Mark Lee is leading a discussion between the captains, whilst Jeno follows the warm-ups run by an enthusiastic Minhyuk Park. They make a formidable team, even to Donghyuck’s non-discerning eye. He knows that every player on this team is a good player, knows that Park One and Park Two teamed up is a terrible combination for the opposition, knows that Mark and Jeno will have a ridiculously good rapport.

Donghyuck doesn’t know the game but he knows people.

Jaemin and Renjun settle in to watch the game, but Donghyuck flicks his wand once. His textbook floats up to eye level, and he pulls his legs up so he can sit cross-legged on the bench.

‘You’re not even going to pretend to pay attention, are you?’ Renjun sighs.

‘Nope,’ Donghyuck flicks through his notebook, before pulling out a quill from his bag. ‘Jeno’s not expecting much, so I don’t see why I even have to try.’

‘You’re a terrible friend.’

‘At least I’m here.’

 

 

Approximately twenty minutes into practice, it starts getting loud enough that Donghyuck can’t concentrate anymore. He’s been trying to rewrite his notes for what feels like hours, every time crossing it out and starting again in an effort to keep them neat and organised.

Whenever he feels like he’s getting somewhere, a loud roar of approval from the students rocks the stadium and his quill slips.

‘I am a second away from cursing whoever keeps yelling,’ he says, slamming his quill down into his notebook. He looks up, eyes flaring and for once ignores the flinches of the forth years sitting in the row in front of him. ‘Who the fuck is it?’

‘It’s _Wong_ ,’ Jaemin says pointing to where Wong is sitting at the head of the bleachers. He’s been adopted by a group of seventh years, all boisterous and loud as he’s being, and without the straight lines of his Durmstrang uniform he fits in.

‘What’s he even doing here? I thought this was supposed to be the Hogwarts team practice or whatever?’ Donghyuck hisses.

‘I think he just really likes Quidditch or something,’ Renjun shrugs.  ‘You know that the Ravenclaws would never let him stay if they thought he was spying.’

Mark and Jeno toss a ball between them and Yerim, quick throws and fancy broom movements, before it shoots past Minhyuk. It must be something difficult or interesting, because a couple of seventh years start clapping, and Wong stands up to point at the trio.

‘Oh my god! Did you see that? Oh, my god!’ his grin is wide and he turns around to look at the students around him. His eyes settle on Donghyuck’s for a moment, and he repeats another _Oh, my god_ before sitting down.

‘Must he do that?’ Donghyuck groans.

‘Come on, you’ve dealt with worse than a single person cheering before,’ Renjun nudges Donghyuck’s side softly.

‘His voice is just so loud, and unnecessarily excited,’ Donghyuck insists. ‘I just wanted to rewrite my charms notes, but         no, I have to deal with this kind of bullshittery. I thought Durmstrang students were supposed to be churlish and anti-social.’

Jaemin gives Donghyuck the biggest side-eye he’s given Donghyuck since the time Donghyuck decided he was going to dye his hair.

(Joke’s still on Jaemin, the red hair worked out really well.)

It’s enough to make Renjun break out into little giggles and Donghyuck scrunches his nose a little bit. He actually misses Jeno because, for some reason, because they’re somehow subtle when they’re around him.

Wong has sat down, the laughter of the various students melding into each other as the practice continues on.

Now that Donghyuck’s noticed him, however, he can’t help but look at Wong whenever he hits a wall in his notes.

Wong is amiable, Donghyuck realises as the practice continues. He slips from conversation to conversation, grinning and nodding as some of the students point things out to him, but his attention never once fully deviates from the players in front of him.

There’s that magnetism around him that Donghyuck’s only seen on a few people, Mark Lee and Jaehyun Jung, that indicates that this person is more than just a people-person. They’re sort of person that people _like_ , the sort of person that can smile their way out of trouble. The sort of person that becomes a golden child.

Donghyuck hasn’t even seen Wong’s magical ability and already he can see why the older boy is a clear choice for Durmstrang’s champion.

He naturally makes people think well of him.

Donghyuck wouldn’t trust anyone like that as high as he can levitate them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hopefully this was something interesting and fun
> 
> hit me up on [tweetuh](https://twitter.com/neocitz)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> in a complete turn of events, shout out to taewinnies for having a look over this and spotting my stupid mistakes. 
> 
> i cannot thank everyone enough for their response to the first chapter, hopefully you enjoy the second as well.

Friday is the sort of day where the sun is warm enough, the shade is a little too cool, and the wind is barely noticeable.

Classes are over for the week, and the excitement of the interschool Quidditch match has reached its peak. As the week passed and the match drew closer and closer, whispers of excitement had spread through the student body and teachers found themselves trying to keep students focused to no avail. Now that it’s the day of, Jeno’s been raging about how the game would be since breakfast, with Renjun and Jaemin throwing in suggestions on how to target the Beauxbatons Keeper.

Donghyuck, on the other hand, is _pissed_.

‘It’s not going to be that bad,’ Jaemin says, patting Donghyuck’s shoulder as they make their way up from the Slytherin Common Room.

‘This is _the nicest_ Friday afternoon we’ve had in weeks, and I have to waste it in detention,’ Donghyuck deadpans. ‘I cannot believe this bullshit, I didn’t even do anything wrong!’

‘You literally hexed me,’ Jaemin scoffs. ‘ _And_ you called Neilson an arsehole.’

‘The truth doesn’t warrant two days of detention,’ Donghyuck argues. ‘And I un-hexed you before dinner, anyway.’

Jaemin laughs. ‘What would you be doing today anyway? Holed up in a classroom practising spells or something? You wouldn’t even be taking advantage of the weather.’

‘I would have! I’d go watch Jeno’s Quidditch match or something, sit out in the open and, I don’t know…’

Jaemin raises an eyebrow at him.

‘Okay, fine I would have been practising in a spare classroom, but I need that time! I’d like to see you do an elective Hogwarts doesn’t even offer,’ Donghyuck says with an affronted sniff. ‘It’s really hard for me to fit in an extra class around everything else.’

‘It’s not even properly out of school distance education,’ Jaemin scoffs. ‘Your extra classes are held in Hogsmeade.’

‘And it takes me thirty minutes to walk there, hence _distance_.’

Jaemin sighs, shaking his head. ‘Just get your detention out of the way and hope the weather doesn’t change over the weekend. You’ve got it free, yeah?’

‘Mostly, I’ve got to head to Hogsmeade on Sunday for a few hours, but that’s it.’

And, he reasons, he doesn’t have detention again until Monday evening. Monday’s detention is to be served with Professor Templeton in Arithmancy, and she likes Donghyuck well enough that she wouldn’t do anything unnecessarily cruel for her detention. Neilson is in charge of tonight’s, however, and the small quartet have been throwing out ideas about it since Tuesday.

Renjun’s guess is moving some of the paintings on the fifth floor.

Jeno’s is cleaning up the thestral’s pen.

Donghyuck hopes it’s not either of those.

‘Where do you have to meet Neilson, anyway?’ Jaemin asks, as they emerge from the cool dungeons of the school. Their eyes take a moment to adjust to the light, and Donghyuck wonders what it’s like to live in a dormitory surrounded by natural light.

‘Near the greenhouses,’ Donghyuck scrunches his nose up. ‘I probably won’t be able to see Jeno and say break a leg. Can you pass on the message?’

‘It’s a match, Hyuck, not a play. You can wish him good luck, none of this superstition bullshit.’

‘No, I want him to break a leg. Then I can leave detention and cry over his injured body in the hospital wing, duh.’

Jaemin laughs. ‘You are such an arsehole.’

Donghyuck can’t help grinning in response. ‘Look who’s talking,’ he knocks Jaemin lightly, causing the other boy to stumble slightly.

‘But you love me,’ Jaemin throws himself around Donghyuck’s shoulders in retaliation, something less of a hug and more of a vice-grip. Donghyuck can feel Jaemin’s smile against his neck, and leans back into his friends grip as they waddle across the school. If anyone is focused on them, Donghyuck can’t tell and he can’t bring himself to care.

Donghyuck tells himself that he’s mature enough to deal with the looks and whispers that he gets from the students of Hogwarts. He forces himself to laugh over the articles in The Daily Prophet, he forces himself to meet the eyes of strangers in the street. He hates it.

But in these moments in between, there’s the playfulness of his best friends, the way they push and shove and fight, and he can forget about the rest of the world. Sometimes Donghyuck’s not sure where he ends and the others begin, and he relishes in that because it makes him feel like himself.

These are the moments he loves best, the careless ones.

Their steps are steady, if awkward, as they make their way down across the grounds. Because Jaemin is the kind of friend who is somehow decent enough to walk Donghyuck to detention, even though he’s clearly capable enough to do it on his own. The walk is also mixed with complaints and whining so Donghyuck’s not sure if he should have just insisted that Jaemin just go straight to the Quidditch Pitch without him.

‘Do you think Jeno’s really going to go for Hogwarts Champion?’ Donghyuck asks, leaning his head against Jaemin’s shoulder.

‘I don’t think so.’

‘He’d be … a decent one,’ Donghyuck admits. ‘Even if the Triwizard Tournament is a waste of time. Between the four of us, he’d probably be able to win it.’

‘Nah,’ Jaemin shakes his head. ‘He asked about it after Transfiguration. Apparently, once you’ve put your name in the Goblet of Fire, it is the start of a contract. When your name gets drawn, you’re bound to your word.’

Donghyuck can’t help the small sneer that pulls across his face. ‘It’s a magical contract?’

‘Magic-bound, and magic only,’ Jaemin actually shivers at that. ‘It’s pretty fucking scary.’

Donghyuck can’t help agreeing. Magic is strong, and beautiful, and overwhelming and _terrifying_. He would never, ever make the mistake of binding himself without that human element. Anyone who was willing to do so was either foolish, brave, or both.

‘Is he disappointed?’ Donghyuck asks.

‘I don’t think he is. Renjun hasn’t said anything about him being upset in the dormitories or anything.’

‘He’d tell you, if he was anyway,’ Donghyuck nudges Jaemin lightly. ‘

 

 

 

‘Who is that with Neilson?’ Jaemin says. He pulls away from Donghyuck to straighten up, although barely puts any distance between them.

Sure enough, Neilson’s not alone outside the greenhouses.

Donghyuck doesn’t need to get close to recognise who the other boy is. It’s been a week of watching him situate himself in the groups of Hogwarts, of hearing his laughter echo through the corridors at a terrible joke, of ducking out the way so that this energy and focus isn’t directed towards himself.

He hates it’s happened anyway.

‘It’s Lucas Wong.’ Donghyuck groans. leaning into Jaemin’s side as they walk closer. ‘He’s been watching me _all week_.’

‘The good kind or the bad kind?’

‘When is it _ever_ the good kind with me?’

‘Want me to scare him off?’ Jaemin hisses back, he’s still practically glued to Donghyuck’s side again. ‘I’m really good at bitch face, should I do some bitch face?’

‘Do it,’ Donghyuck says and Jaemin’s face drops from its trademark grin into something blank and cold. Donghyuck readjusts his own expression to cool disinterest. If Neilson sees him happy then Neilson’ll think he’s up to something, but also because he doesn’t want to Wong to think that Donghyuck cares.

‘Afternoon Professor.’

‘Mr Lee, Mr Na,’ Neilson says, voice tight as the pair look at him. ‘You’ve just managed to make it in time, Mr Lee.’

‘Funny about how I’ve just made it with five minutes to spare,’ Donghyuck’s lips curl up in a small smile but his eyes don’t shift, meant to discomfort Neilson. It does.

‘Indeed,’ Neilson says. ‘I don’t recall assigning you detention, Mr Na. Did you want to volunteer?'

‘Hardly, Professor,’ Jaemin doesn’t even pretend to be nice as he says it. He steps away from Donghyuck and tosses his head back slightly, looking up at both Neilson and Wong, but there’s a glint in his eyes that dares both of them to challenge him. They wouldn’t win. ‘I’m just walking Donghyuck to detention. I’ll be out of your hair in a minute.’

Neilson doesn’t look happy. But then again, Donghyuck has rarely seen him so.

‘Mr Wong will be accompanying you on your detention today,’ Neilson turns back to Wong. The Durmstrang student has the nerve to not only smile, but also to wave at Donghyuck from where he’s standing. He looks far too happy for someone who has been assigned detention. ‘I’m sure that between the two of you, you’ll get the task done in no time. The OWL Potions class are about to start on their first round of in-school assessments, and the pair of you are going to be finding the necessary ingredients.’

‘Sir?’

‘Mugwort, Snapping Reeds and the like. I’ve a list with locations for you to find in the Forbidden Forest.’

‘You’re not going with them?’ Jaemin asks, face dropping out of its cool façade.

‘Of course not.’ 

‘It’s the _Forbidden Forest_.’

‘And Mr Lee has proven, countless times, that he’s capable of the magic to defend himself in such a place. After all, he is a special case.’

‘You sure you’ll be okay?’ Jaemin murmurs. He looks worried, so Donghyuck pushes something close to a smile on his face to reassure Jaemin that he’s going to be okay. He doesn’t waste the expression on Wong or Neilson, ignoring them for the brief moment he focuses his attention on Jaemin.

‘I’ll be fine.’ Donghyuck’s gaze flashes to the woods behind Jaemin’s shoulder. He’s unable to hold back the shiver that works across his body.  Jaemin doesn’t notice it, thankfully, nor does his notice Donghyuck’s fingers creeping to his wand holster, seeking the protection of the piece of wood. ‘You should head to the Quidditch Pitch.’

‘I can stay if you want.’

‘No, no go it’s fine,’ Donghyuck waves him off. ‘Otherwise Jeno’s going to be sulky at both of us.’

Jaemin sends another glare at Neilson but backs away anyway. Donghyuck turns around as well, expression melting away into something unimpressed as he stares at Neilson. The professor is pleased, Donghyuck realises, and it’s the kind of pleasure that comes at someone else’s discomfort. If he was the sort of person who cared about the school, Donghyuck might have reported Neilson to the School Governors to get a decent replacement.

But Donghyuck’s speciality is persevering, and it’s just under two years left. He’s already managed five. 

‘Mr Wong, if you have any issues with Mr Lee over the course of the detention, do let me know. So that we can keep an eye on his behaviour,’ Neilson’s gaze doesn’t shift from Donghyuck, and Donghyuck only just resists drawing his wand out of his holster at the professor’s words. He doesn’t need to make anymore trouble than what he’s already made, not if Neilson’s as daring as to send him into the Forbidden Forest unsupervised.

‘... Sure?’

‘Since I cannot send you out to the Forbidden Forest at all hours of the night, your detention will finish at eight o’clock. I want you both back before the moon rises.’

‘And if we’re not?’

‘Then we assume you’re dead.’

‘Fair enough.’

Donghyuck can’t help but notice that Wong looks genuinely alarmed. He turns to the Durmstrang student, sharp little smile pulling at his lips. ‘Welcome to Hogwarts.’

 

 

Venturing into the Forbidden Forest isn’t something that Donghyuck and his friends do regularly. They may have _opinions_ about the more ridiculous aspects of the school, but even they have heard the stories of the Forbidden Forest and know not to enter it.  

Donghyuck can’t help spinning his wand between his fingers, making sure he knows the balance and length even though he has grown up with the wand by his side. He stands at the edge of the forest, looking at the trees that start to twine together and the darkness that spreads ahead of them, and wonders what would happen if he just turned around and refused to do the detention.

‘So, this is the Forbidden Forest,’ Wong draws out after a long moment of Donghyuck working up the courage to step forward. ‘It doesn’t look that Forbidden?’

‘It’s in the name,’ Donghyuck can’t help the deadpan that cuts through his voice.

‘Yeah but you guys use such big names here. Forbidden Forest, The Great Lake. It’s not even great, it’s just very big.’ Wong laughs as he says it and Donghyuck almost feels his eyes roll back into his head. ‘Why do you guys do that?’

What an idiot.

‘Let’s just get this over with,’ Donghyuck says instead, and he squares his shoulders against the expanse of forest in front of him. ‘You’ve got the list from Professor Neilson?’

‘Right here,’ he waves the piece of parchment in Donghyuck’s face. Donghyuck snatches it out of the air with a frown and reads through the list.

‘Fuck,’ he sighs. ‘I only know one or two of these.’

At least Neilson didn’t have a quota that Donghyuck and Wong had to return with. Donghyuck can’t get away with coming back empty-handed, but he only has to try so hard today. It’s perhaps the only relief about this detention.

‘All right, let’s do this,’ he says.

It takes another moment for Donghyuck to push himself forward. He walks closer the forest feeling that weight on his shoulders, that lump in his throat, and tries to ignore it. He’s got his wand, he’s capable of defending himself. The forest is mostly safe whilst the sun is up. Circe, he’s even got his emergency portkey in his pocket. He doesn’t have to feel as nervous as he does.

And yet his heart is thudding against his chest, every instinct telling him to turn back.

It’s only after a few steps that Donghyuck realises that Wong hasn’t even moved from where he’s standing near the greenhouses. He’s staring at Donghyuck with this little smile smirk pulling at his lips.

‘Are you coming or not?’ he crosses his arms in front of him. He isn’t fucking going in alone. ‘Wong!’

 ‘Right, _right_ , sorry man.’ He jogs forward. He’s taller than Donghyuck realised, now that they’re standing alone on the edge of the forest. It’s discomfiting, being alone in such a place with a person that Donghyuck barely knows. ‘I have a first name you know, you can call me by that,’ Wong adds.

‘Yeah, I know _Lucas_ ,’ Donghyuck can’t help the small sneer at the name.

Wong’s smile dims a little at Donghyuck’s tone.

It’s not something Donghyuck’s used to, he realises. People smile at Donghyuck with those little smug smiles of theirs, and when that pride and disdain fades it’s replaced with something that’s generally a bit darker, more bitter.

It never changes to something that isn’t full of anger, and Wong’s face is something closer to disappointment.

But he’s not foolish enough to assume _that._

‘Sorry,’ he scrubs a hand through his hair. ‘Would you prefer if I called you that?’

Polite but distant, he reasons to himself. He’s going to be stuck with Wong for the next few hours at least, and the sooner he can get this over with, the better. He doesn’t have to like Wong, or convince Wong to like him, not that he even needs to.

‘Yukhei, actually,’ Wong says, quiet and low. ‘My name’s Yukhei.’

‘… Where the fuck did _Lucas_ come from?’ Donghyuck’s voice is a disbelieving slip, the words spilling out before he can even keep them in.

Wong laughs at that. ‘My parents used it when they enrolled me in the school. It’s all good though, less questions when I have to introduce myself to new people. I prefer it when my friends call me Yukhei though.’

‘Right, well, Yukhei,’ Donghyuck says was a cough. ‘I don’t know where much is in the Forest.’

‘That’s fine! We can probably just wander around a bit.’ Yukhei grins, any of the dimness from a literal moment earlier being outshine by his natural positivity. ‘It’s not going to be too hard to find what we need anyway.’

What Donghyuck has learnt about _Yukhei_ Wong in the past week is that the behaviour at the Quidditch Pitch was the rule, not the exception. He’s full of energy and brightness and he’s just, slipped into the world of Hogwarts so easily. It grates at Donghyuck, that people are such flobberworms that they’d just let the opinions of the masses wash over them and not even consider what they’re doing.

Why do people follow people like Yukhei so easily?

‘You’re not in seventh year, are you?’ Yukhei asks, climbing over the gnarling roots of the trees in the forest. He’s moved ahead, and Donghyuck can only trail behind him. ‘I don’t think I’ve seen you in classes I’ve had.’

‘I’m in sixth year.’

‘And you’re in, that green house.  Snake thing, evil glares, Slytherin, right?’

‘That’s the one.’

‘Cool!’ Yukhei is nodding at Donghyuck as if he actually does think it’s cool. ‘You’re the first Slytherin I’ve properly talked to. Most of my classes have Gryffindors in them and they’ve been the ones to show me around and stuff. They’re like, really great guys you know.’

‘I’m sure they are.’

He’s going to have to spend hours with this boy, he realises, who won’t let silence sit between them.

‘How does the whole house system work? We don’t have anything similar to it at Durmstrang, we just use it for the dormitories. And those change every year.’

Donghyuck doesn’t say anything for a long moment. It hangs in the air between them, and when he spares half a glance at Yukhei, the other boy is still waiting for him to speak.

Yukhei is watching him with wide, expectant eyes.

‘I mean, we just live together, and we’re meant to compete for a House Cup. It’s pretty shit, to be honest,’ he mumbles, looking away again.

‘Come on, it sounds really interesting. I heard that it’s got some sort of personality trait thing, Mark tried to explain it to me but he got busy.’

‘Of course Mark did,’ Donghyuck sighs. ‘Well, we’re sorted into our houses according to what we value, when we’re eleven. It’s stupid because who’s the same at eleven and seventeen?'

‘Does it really matter?’ Yukhei asks, genuinely curious as he leans forward. ‘Like beyond being put into a dormitory?’

Donghyuck heaves a sigh, because before it was just Yukhei watching him from a distance and he could deal with that. Now that they’re up close, there’s nowhere for Donghyuck to go as that attention is solely focused on himself.  He doesn’t even know _why_ Wong wants to talk to him.

 ‘To some of the students, yeah. It comes to, almost define you.’

‘What’s your house sorted on?’

‘Ambition, cunning, resourcefulness,’ Donghyuck recites. ‘Which half the school takes to mean selfishness and evil.’

‘Right,’ Yukhei nods, seriously as if Donghyuck’s just told him the secrets of Hogwarts. ‘And what would you say it is?’

Donghyuck, _doesn’t know_.

‘By the way, Donghyuck, while we were talking? We’ve made it all the way into the forest,' Yukhei grins, and he’s so pleased with himself. 'See, nothing to be afraid of.’

He walks past Donghyuck, deeper into the forest. He gestures to follow, and Donghyuck can’t help the steeling breath that he takes before he steps forward. He’s sure that eventually he’ll come to regret entering this forest and following this loud, strange boy from Durmstrang into the forest. But for now, he knows that he has no choice but to do so.

(Donghyuck realises, later, that he never introduced himself to Yukhei.)

 

 

Donghyuck keeps his eyes on the forest floor around him, not only looking out for the plants on his list but also the potential of anything disgusting. It is, after all, a forest with wildlife living in it. His wand hasn’t moved from his loose grip the entire time, even as Yukhei has tucked his own behind his ear.

‘You do know that putting it behind your ear is one of the most dangerous things you can do with a wand,’ he grits out, glancing at Yukhei who only laughs.

‘Don’t worry, I know what I’m doing,’ he says, even though he clearly doesn’t.

‘If you blow your ear off, I’m not healing it for you.’

So far, they’ve managed to find aconite, datura and larkspur. Donghyuck thinks that Yukhei has stayed quiet for a grand total of five minutes since they set off into the forest. If he’s not asking questions about Hogwarts, he’s telling Donghyuck about the plants that they’ve picked. There hasn’t been a moment of silence in the last hour at least.

It turns out that Yukhei’s speciality is herbology and potions-making, and he’s as passionate about them as he is about everything else.

‘I’m not going to blow my ear off,’ Yukhei says.

‘I’ve heard that one before,’ Donghyuck rolls his eyes, but he’s got his own little smile playing at the corner of his lips.

Donghyuck’s starting to not mind it, the detention, the forest. He has to admit that the silence of the forest combined with the pleasantness of the day work well together. It makes it almost easy to pretend that the world doesn’t exist, even with Yukhei’s company. He can’t help but wonder if this is what it’s going to be like one day, living life knowing that you can just _breathe._

Not being closed up in a brick castle, with a thousand eyes on him.

He looks up and around him for a moment, taking a break from trying to work out what leaf belongs to what plant. The sunlight is warm against his skin and he tips his head up to look at the trees above him, letting it wash over him. He wishes, somewhat distantly, that his friends were here to share this with him.

‘Whoa.’

Donghyuck opens his eyes, turning to look up at Yukhei. He’s standing there, eyes wide as always but trademark grin having dissolved into something that can only be described as slack-jawed and loose. It’s a comical look on him and Donghyuck can’t help the small laugh.

‘What?’

‘Nothing, just,’ Yukhei rubs at the back of his neck before looking around. He’s a bit pink, probably from the walking they’ve been doing. ‘The forest is really pretty, you know?’

Donghyuck looks around him. ‘Yeah, I guess it is. I’ve never really looked at it that way.’

He can’t help it, the question that spills forth when he looks back at Yukhei.

‘How are you always, so _positive_?’

It doesn’t come off as disbelieving, which Donghyuck intended. Instead, it’s almost curious and it’s almost plaintive.

Yukhei looks genuinely taken aback at that. Donghyuck bites his lips as soon as he says it, looking down at the floor again because it is a stupid, stupid question. He wonders how many rumours Yukhei’s heard, if he can quietly threaten the Durmstrang student to forget the way that Donghyuck sounded when he asked the question.

‘I just,’ Yukhei steps forward, closer to Donghyuck and his eyes aren’t the bright smiling eyes that Donghyuck’s already gotten used to after a week and a few hours. ‘I think it’s better to just let things pass, to look at the good and the beautiful and not focus on the shit. It ain’t worth it.’

Donghyuck doesn’t know what that means, not really, so he can only let out a soft sound of agreement. Yukhei’s eyes are still serious and Donghyuck can’t maintain the eye contact.

‘I guess it’s nice, to be able to live like that,’ he rubs his face, looking out into the forest instead. ‘Good for you, you know.’

‘Donghyuck,’ Yukhei takes half a step forward, hand reaching out towards Donghyuck. He looks like he pities Donghyuck, and Donghyuck feels that revulsion at the emotion bubble in his stomach.

Donghyuck pulls back, grip tightening on his wand for a moment before loosening again. Yukhei stops where he stands and Donghyuck deliberately ignores him to look down at his wand, whispering an incantation that has it spinning on the palm of his hand.

‘Let’s try over there, we might be able to find something near water,’ Donghyuck clears his throat, striding away from where Yukhei’s standing. Yukhei’s long legs means he catches up quickly and Donghyuck bites back a curse, wishing that Yukhei would just try and trail behind him for a moment, let him be alone in this lonely expanse of wood.

They climb over uneven ground, Donghyuck’s wand flicking and twitching as it searches for the nearest body of water.

‘I thought you had to be seventeen to cast magic outside school here,’ Yukhei says, and Donghyuck can hear that the tone isn’t the same as before. It’s tentative, worried. He’s feeling Donghyuck out through the question, unable to let silence sit between them but unsure of where to go forward.

Still, it’s a distraction.

‘I’ve a ML30-U,’ Donghyuck says, still not looking at Yukhei. ‘It’s why Neilson was being such an asshole earlier.’

‘A what? Is that something to do with why he was calling you a “special case” or something?’

Donghyuck shrugs. ‘It’s an underage magic license, allows me to cast magic outside of Hogwarts without supervision and without question.’

He can’t help the small glance to the other boy, quick and furtive. Yukhei’s looking ahead, mapping out the course in front of them, but his face is so expressive and Donghyuck is starting to be able to read the emotions on his face.

‘Really? Wouldn’t that be really hard for someone to get? Dude you must be so good at magic!’

‘It’s, not easy, but it’s not as complicated as most people think. I fit the requirements for one, and I passed the background tests, so I was issued one when I was about thirteen?’

‘That’s really cool,’ Yukhei turns around now to grin at Donghyuck and Donghyuck can’t help it. ‘Like, _so cool_ , man.’

He can’t help the blush that rises at having that grin directed at him (and knowing that it’s because of him). But more importantly he can’t help the pride that washes over him, knowing that someone is _impressed_ by Donghyuck. Yukhei’s obvious excitement over Donghyuck’s license bolsters him, just a little bit, and allows something of his own smile to work across his face.

‘It is.’

‘Can you show me something?’

‘It’s still just magic, the same stuff that you’ve been studying since you were eleven,’ Donghyuck can’t help laughing as he looks up at Yukhei. ‘I can just cast it when most people my age aren’t allowed to.’

‘Come on,’ Yukhei whines, looking down at Donghyuck again. How does someone so tall, so broad, manage to look so sweet when he complains. ‘Just one little spell?’

‘I’ve already cast one,’ he says, pointing to the direction charm that’s still interwoven with his wand’s magic.

‘Something different,’ Yukhei insists.  

‘I’ll think about it.’

 

 

They end up on the side of a swamp.

‘This is _disgusting_ ,’ Donghyuck’s nose crinkles up, and he presses his hand over his face. ‘We’re not looking here.’

‘No, _wait_ ,’ Yukhei’s pointing at some pile of sodden leaves on the edge of the banks. ‘This swamp has got heaps of stuff on our list, we can probably knock half of it out right here.’

‘Don’t make me wade into that muck,’ Donghyuck begs, looking up at Yukhei. ‘Let’s just skip that part of the list and look for the dandelions.’

‘You mean the carnivorous ones? I mean if you want to. Seriously, you don’t have to do anything, just hold the bucket and I’ll pick everything.’

Yukhei is already walking down to the edge of the swamp, leaning forward with narrowed eyes. Donghyuck doesn’t dare walk any closer than he has to, arms wrapped around himself as he looks out across the murky water. He does, however, make a great deal of complaining in the hope that it would convince Yukhei _not_ to enter the swamp.

‘Surely there’s a better idea out there than get dirty in the mangy swamp,’ he says, ‘the smell’s never going to get out of your clothes.’

‘Fair point,’ Yukhei says with a nod. ‘Going to do it anyway.’

‘Why?’ Donghyuck whines. ‘You’re going to smell the entire walk back to the castle now.’

‘It’s just a bit of mud, I can deal with it,’ Yukhei shrugs, rolling up his sleeves and his pants before slipping out of his shoes.

He wades into the slimy, dirty water and Donghyuck can only just shudder as he toes forward. He tries to stay on as much dry land as possible and avoid any of the mud that sits on the edge of the swamp. Yukhei has no such hesitation as he plunges his hand into the water and pulls something out from the root.

‘I need you to get closer, so I can put them in the bucket,’ Yukhei’s grin has changed now, Donghyuck realises. He’s not so much grinning for the sake of it, but a small gentle smile as he studies the water and plants around him. ‘This is a really delicate specimen, but it’ll be perfect for potions.’ He leans over carefully, lowering the plant into the bucket that they’ve been carrying the plants in.

Donghyuck thinks, in this moment, that this is what should make Yukhei a contender for the Durmstrang Champion.

It’s not the personality, the bravery, the brightness, that is going to be a necessity in the Hogwarts Champion. But this seriousness, this dedication, this understanding of magic. It’s almost entrancing, watching Yukhei mutter under his breath as he checks each plant in front of him before pulling them out, or trimming the leaves.

Then a fly lands on Donghyuck and he splutters in annoyance, waving it away. ‘Fucking swamps and their fucking smells,’ he mutters under his breath.

He doesn’t notice Yukhei’s small huff of laughter.

‘Be careful where you stand, it’s slippery,’ Yukhei says. He wades closer to Donghyuck, wiping one hand on his pants to clean it. ‘Choose a spot and don’t move from it until I’ve got everything.’

Donghyuck takes the offered hand to steady himself as he steps over the rocks. He waves his own wand once, clearing the dirt and muck to make a place that’s clean enough for him to sit. He may as well do his best to sort through the plants that they’ve picked along the way, tapping them with a preservation spell that he learnt in fourth year. It’s not very strong, but it will hold until they get back to the potions’ professor.

‘You know that this is one of the most disgusting places in the forest, right?’

‘Probably,’ Yukhei looks up at Donghyuck through his hair. ‘But it’s great for the plant life, the magic of a wild-grown herb is far more potent that of one grown in a lab or a greenhouse. I’ll have to ask if I can use some of these in my potions assignment. Is it worth asking the potions professor?’

‘I mean, maybe? She’s not a total bitch but she’s hard to impress? You need to make a good first impression on her,’ Donghyuck says with a slight shrug. Yukhei nods again before looking down. Donghyuck has no doubt that Yukhei would be able to charm her, either with his pure dedication or the exuberant smile that he never leaves behind.

It’s, nice. Despite the smell.

He grimaces as Yukhei accidentally flicks a piece of mud onto his face, taking the proffered plant and spelling it once. He wipes his face, but doesn’t complain despite the way the irritation sits in his chest.

‘What kind of potions project are you thinking of doing?’ he asks.

He most definitely doesn’t notice the way Yukhei’s eyes light up at his interest.

(He does.)

 

 

‘How, how do we get out of here?’ Donghyuck realises, another hour later.

They’ve been wandering for hours, and even though they can’t have ventured too far from the forest’s edge, Donghyuck’s not sure of what direction they’ve come from. After the swamp, they’d found a few more types of moss growing on the side of the trees and even managed to find a few loose feathers for a potion that Yukhei was working on himself.

They’d also managed to get much further in than anticipated, considering that moon rise was rapidly approaching.

Yukhei laughs, clear and bright as he looks to Donghyuck. ‘Don’t worry, I’ve been keeping track of where we’ve been walking. I wouldn’t head into your so-called _Forbidden_ Forest without a back-up plan.’

He pulls his own wand out from behind his ear for the first time all day, and flicks it.

A soft glow rises from the ground, like fireflies awakening. The gold particles shift and shimmer, forming a path that flows right to where they’re standing. Donghyuck can see it extend out behind them, twisting and highlighting the forest around them. Donghyuck hadn’t even noticed Yukhei casting the breadcrumb spell when they left, too focused on the irritation that long since faded.

‘That’s kind of impressive,’ he says.

Yukhei does a smug little shrug, but before he can speak a crack echoes behind them. Donghyuck jumps slightly, skittering closer to the glow of the breadcrumb spell. It’s likely nothing dangerous. But that doesn’t stop him from glancing around himself, wand in hand. He’s been trained to be ready for the worst, and being stuck in a forest after dark definitely comes under that.

‘Don’t worry,’ Yukhei walks closer to Donghyuck. His larger hand encases Donghyuck’s free hand, and laces their fingers together to squeeze lightly. It’s meant to comfort, Donghyuck realises. ‘We’re both pretty good at defending ourselves.’

Donghyuck tries not to think about how that calms him.

‘Still, let’s get moving,’ he says with no small amount of bravado. ‘We’re going to miss dinner if we’re later than eight o’clock and I’m sure that my friends are going to want to tell me all about the Quidditch game today. And I’m going to tell them about how awful this detention is.’

‘Admit it,’ Yukhei grins, pulling Donghyuck by the hand along the path that he marked out. ‘You had fun with me today in detention.’

‘I did not. Zero out of ten, would never do again.’

‘Liar.’

Yukhei turns to smile at Donghyuck, head tilted to the side, and it’s something that’s a combination of amused, smug and sweet. It fits him perfectly.

‘I’m not going to talk to you when we get back to the castle,’ Donghyuck threatens. It just causes Yukhei to laugh some more, loud and echoing, and Donghyuck can’t help joining in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thanks for staying til the end x 
> 
> hit me up on [tweetuh](https://twitter.com/neocitz)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long time since I updated, but it's finally, finally done! 
> 
> Massive thanks to Nini who looked over the chapter for me, unfortunately I'm impulsive and wrote the last 2000 words without her!

Despite his jokes, Donghyuck doesn’t really expect to interact with Yukhei again once their detention is over.

Yukhei is loud, and friendly, and goofy, and popular. Unlike his Durmstrang classmates, he fits easily into the various friendship groups of Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, and they welcome him with open arms. These groups, however, do not run in tandem with Donghyuck’s.

Donghyuck prepares himself to be forgotten in the sea of faces, reduced to a casual nod of acknowledgement.

He spends a day or so avoiding Yukhei out of principle, slipping out of sight when he hears the tell-tale laughter of the seventh years that Yukhei has claimed as his own. After that, he retreats to the library to work through a critique for Defence Against the Dark Arts with Renjun.

He doesn’t expect Yukhei to seek him out in the library.  

‘You’re not avoiding me, are you?’ Yukhei says, throwing himself into a seat opposite Donghyuck.

Donghyuck looks up from the Arithmancy book in front of him. ‘No,’ he says _very_ unconvincingly. ‘I’ve just been studying a lot, I had a test this week.’

Yukhei lounges in the seat, and Donghyuck can’t help looking around in case the librarian finds them. She can’t stand it when any of the students disrespect the furniture of the library. Donghyuck shoots a quick spell, causing Yukhei’s chair to slam back down flat. It wouldn’t do for a Durmstrang student to get detention twice in a fortnight.

‘He’s avoiding me, isn’t he?’ Yukhei directs at Renjun.

‘Hid behind a statue on Tuesday,’ Renjun sounds bored, but then his eyes rise to meet Yukhei’s and his smile is wicked. ‘You make him _nervous_.’

‘Okay, you can shut up now,’ Donghyuck hisses, throwing a piece of rolled up parchment at his no-longer best friend. ‘Or I’ll tell Jaemin about what happened over the summer.’

‘Fine, _fine_. I’ll just leave you to it then,’ the words are accompanied with a half-glare at Donghyuck. ‘I’m going to find a copy of _The Elegant Curse_.’

He stands up, ignoring Donghyuck’s tugging on his sleeve and hissed _stay here please,_ and makes his way towards the Restricted Section. The metal cage that surrounds the shelves curl open, admitting him past their spell work, and twist together once he’s out of sight. Renjun’s departure leaves Donghyuck alone with Yukhei.

‘What happened over the summer?’ Yukhei says, slipping into Renjun’s abandoned seat. He drags the chair closer, wood scraping against the stone floors. Donghyuck tries not to look at him, but he can’t resist and _oh_ , suddenly all he can see is Yukhei. It’s like he’s forgotten how large Yukhei is, in the days he’s watched Yukhei from afar, both in size and personality.

He can’t deal with Yukhei’s smug little smile, can’t deal with all that attention focused on him from so close up.

‘We went to a muggle cinema and watched a movie,’ Donghyuck explains, looking back down at his notes. ‘He cried.’

‘And that’s a bad thing?’ Yukhei raises an eyebrow. He leans forward, resting his head on his forearm so he’s lying on Renjun’s opens books and looking up at Donghyuck. It’s soft, and quiet and even though Yukhei is all energy and all smiles, it feels suspended as he looks up at Donghyuck. Like he’s waiting for something.

Donghyuck’s not sure what he’s waiting for.

‘No,’ Donghyuck shakes his head. ‘I mean, I cried too. But Jaemin’ll get especially gross, and go on about how cute it is that Renjun cried over a movie for kids. And then Renjun’ll get irritated about Jaemin getting gross, and then Jeno’ll get pouty. It’s a whole thing, Renjun would rather avoid it.’

‘You cried too?’

‘It was a good film, _okay_?’ Donghyuck huffs, turning back to look at the Restricted Section. He hopes, futilely, that Renjun would return immediately. ‘It’s not the point anyway.’

‘What is the point, then?’

Donghyuck can’t answer him and groans, dropping his head down into his homework. ‘I don’t know?’ He hears Yukhei laughing, and resolves to stay there until the older boy gets bored and leaves.  When he peeks out to the side, he sees Yukhei smiling at him and the smile is _so fond_ that Donghyuck can’t hold that gaze for too long.

‘Anyway,’ Yukhei leans closer, ‘I was thinking.’

‘Always a useful thing to do,’ Donghyuck says, trying to regain some sort of balance after being so easily thrown by this Durmstrang boy’s presence. Yukhei doesn’t even look annoyed. There’s a new tilt to his smile that Donghyuck doesn’t want to think about, like the fact that it’s somehow filled itself with something large despite not changing in size.

‘ _I was thinking_ ,’ Yukhei repeats. ‘Next Saturday. Chan mentioned something about being able to go to the village?’

‘Hogsmeade?’ Donghyuck actually sits up at that, he’d forgotten that a Hogsmeade Weekend was coming up. ‘Yeah, if you’ve got permission or of age, you can go down to the village to do some shopping and stuff.’ He notices, distantly, the twisting and curling of the restricted section as it unbends to let Renjun out, books in hand. It’s been a while since the four of them went to Hogsmeade together, perhaps they could check out some of the—

‘Do you want to go with me?’ Yukhei asks.

Donghyuck turns back to Yukhei, voice caught on a lump and coming out in a croak. ‘ _What?_ ’

‘Will you,’ Yukhei slows down, large eyes fixed on Donghyuck’s, ‘go to Hogsmeade with me? This weekend.’

‘Erm.’ Renjun’s walking back, little confused tilt to his head, but Donghyuck doesn’t glance back at him. Donghyuck’s caught, unable to think as he looks at the boy in front of him.  ‘Sure?’

 

 

‘It’s a date,’ Jaemin declares.

‘It’s not a date,’ Donghyuck runs his hands through his hair. ‘It can’t be a date.’

They’ve retreated to _their_ classroom. It was probably used for some sort of Medieval Theory class, from the abandoned textbooks and various, intimidating metal weapons scattered around the room. Now, however, it is just one of many forgotten classrooms that the castle boasts.

In the two months since Professor Bae tipped them off about the classroom on the second floor, they have changed every element of it. Donghyuck has created targets from the rusty armour. Jaemin transfigured all the desks into an unnecessary but comfortable pillow fort within two days of claiming the room. And Jeno's wards constantly evolve and change with every modification he makes.

Renjun, in a stunning display, managed to spell small glowing lights floating around the room that adapted to what the boys wanted.

They had made the room something more, and no-one even know of the retreat that the four boys created.

It was supposed to be used for study, but Donghyuck is inclined to say that he spends more time just relaxing in the room.

'It sounds like it's a date,' Jeno says, paging through the textbooks in front of him. 'It could do you some good. Didn't you say that you had a good time with him during detention?'

'I said that I didn't want to tear my hair out after an hour.'

'Exactly,' Jeno looks up and flashes that smile that makes Jaemin and Renjun weak at the knees but Donghyuck scowl. 'You had a good time.'

Renjun flicks his wand and sends a petrified chocolate frog at Donghyuck's head. 'Can you just accept the fact that you're going to Hogsmeade with him and not complain the whole time?'

Donghyuck only just manages to dodge it.

'I'm not complaining, I am _in crisis_ , Injun and you are not helping,' he sniffs. The chocolate frog is indented into the wall, and Donghyuck doesn't even want to think about what would have happened if he didn't dodge. 'I can't believe that my best friends would betray me like this.'

'You're the one who's getting worked up about something stupid,' Jaemin says from his pillow fort. He's not even studying, like the rest of them are supposed to be doing, just chewing a cookie that the house elves gave him. He isn't even sharing them.

Donghyuck's newly decided that Jaemin has the title of Worst Friend Ever, shared with Renjun and Jeno.

'Look, he's just looking for someone to show him around Hogsmeade or something,' Donghyuck insists. ‘He’s never been.’

‘Why wouldn’t he just ask Mark or one of his Gryffindor friends then?’ Jaemin says, stupid smirk on his face.

‘I don’t know,’ Donghyuck flusters. He looks up at the ceiling, focusing on Renjun's lights instead of having to deal with that smug, knowing gleam in his friends' eyes.

‘Put it this way,’ Jeno closes the book in front of him. He sits up, straight with his eyes locked on Donghyuck. ‘Do you _want_ it to be a date?’

‘No! No, well,’ Donghyuck pointedly keeps his gaze away from his friends, ‘maybe?'

Renjun lets out this snort of laughter, full of disdain and disappointment.

All three boys can read Donghyuck like a book, knowing what he's thinking before he even thinks it. It's the terrible and wonderful aftermath of growing up not knowing when he ends and when they start.

'Take it as it comes,' Renjun says. 'You tend to overthink things, so just go to Hogsmeade with him. If it's a date, then it's a date. If it's not a date, then it's not a date.'

'What do I do if it's not a date?' Donghyuck wishes that he knew a little bit more about all _this_. He's never had to deal with anything like this before, has never met someone who not only wants to spend time with him, but won't take no for an answer. It's both scary and flattering.

'Then you resign yourself to a life of bachelorhood,' Jeno says. 'Or you could date me.'

The joke is light, with that teasing smile that Jeno always adds because he can't keep a straight face, but both Renjun and Jaemin have that look of pure panic in their eyes. The idiots.

Donghyuck lets out a disgusted retch and laughs at Jeno's faux-offended expression. 'That would make literally no-one happy except my parents.'

'But imagine how happy they would be,' Jeno grins.

'I don't want to,' Donghyuck can't help the small giggles despite it.

'Neither,' Jaemin mutters and Donghyuck can't help rolling his eyes, both at Jaemin _and_ Jeno. He doesn't know how Jeno doesn't notice Jaemin’s attitude, the Hufflepuff just flashing a smile in response.

‘Idiots,’ Renjun says fondly, as if he doesn’t fall under that term himself.

 

 

Yukhei’s wearing muggle clothes, _true_ muggle clothes, and has his hands tucked in the pocket of his jeans. In comparison, Donghyuck is wearing a colour-shifting cardigan and trousers that remain pressed thanks to the spell-work woven into the material. He hopes it doesn’t make him seem more Slytherin than he is.

It’s ... confronting, being in public, Donghyuck finds. The only time they’ve spent together was in the depths of the forest, when it was them and them alone. Donghyuck didn’t have to think about the sideways glances and the interested whispers from the students around them.

Today, he has to do his best to ignore it.

‘How have your classes been?’ Donghyuck asks, regretting the questions as soon as he finishes it.

Yukhei doesn’t mind the dullness of the question, at least not openly. He just gives a sort of half-shrug, smile still on his face as he answers.

‘It’s not too bad, actually,’ he looks down at Donghyuck. ‘I mean, weird getting used to a whole new set of teachers for my final year, but it happens. Students and teachers are good though.’

‘I don’t know how any of you do it, I would not be able to move to a different country the year of my final exams,’ Donghyuck shudders at the thought. He’s not studious, not hungry to learn like a Ravenclaw, but he wants to do his best and he can’t imagine how hard it would be to do what any of the exchange students have done. ‘Is the Triwizard Tournament that important? Is being The Triwizard Champion that important?’

‘It’s not just the prestige,’ Yukhei says, shrugging with his wide, disarming smile. ‘It’s the experience, and the camaraderie, and the challenge. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I can’t let something like this go by me.’

Donghyuck can’t help looking at the way Yukhei’s hands curl, grasping for something and he thinks that perhaps he understands.

‘I’ll never again have the chance to participate in something like this, and I don’t want to regret it for the rest of my life,’ Yukhei says, and his voice is oddly serious. Donghyuck nods, turning away because something about the way that Yukhei looks out across Hogsmeade is blinding.

‘I, I guess I can understand that,’ Donghyuck says and he swallows down a lump in his throat, made of awe and anxiety.

The smile that works across Yukhei’s face is bright and honest. ‘It’s better to live without regrets, I think,’ he says, and he reaches down to catch Donghyuck’s fingers with his. It’s a terrible line, and he looks so proud of himself.

Donghyuck smiles and he lets himself be led by Yukhei through the village.

But for someone who goes to Hogsmeade as often as Donghyuck, he often _forgets_.

Situated halfway down the main stretch of shops, about ten minutes from where the dirt path from Hogwarts turns into cobblestone streets, sits a statue. It would have been beautiful, once upon a time, with marble figures of a witch and a wizard reaching to the sky above them. Rumours were that children could wish on the statue, and that raw magic it channelled would grant it.

It didn’t grant wishes any more.

‘What is that?’ Yukhei asks, his voice awestruck as he looks at the statue. ‘How did that happen?’

‘Dark magic.’ Donghyuck’s voice scratches past his throat as he looks at the statue. ‘There was a fight here, and a duel. The statue was caught in the crossfire and _this_ is what happened to it.’

This being the statue warping and cracking. What was once beautiful was twisted and split, burnt at the edges with that same raw magic leaking into the village around it. It wasn’t dangerous, at least by the Department of Mysteries’ standards, but it was powerful.

‘A duel? _The_ duel, you mean?’ Yukhei seems to reach out almost, stepping towards the magic that pulsates in the statue. Donghyuck shivers and hangs back, the twist of light and dark magic warring at each other within the statue too much for him to handle. ‘Between Seo and Lee?’

‘That’s the one,’ Donghyuck exhales. ‘Most infamous duel of the twentieth century.’

‘The amount of dark magic it would have taken to last this long, it’s ...’ Yukhei rolls his shoulders, and he doesn’t look scared. But Donghyuck can tell that he’s set on edge from the magic. ‘Confronting.’

‘Lee’d know all about dark magic, wouldn’t he?’ a voice sneers.

Donghyuck doesn’t know who it is, doesn’t recognise the voice, as the person shoulders past him. He stumbles from the hit and Yukhei is quick to catch him.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Yukhei reaches out to grab the other student, but Donghyuck catches his hand and pulls it back. Yukhei turns on him, gaze firm and strong and angry and Donghyuck exhales with a shaky breath. ‘Why’d you let him talk to you like that?’

‘Don’t.’ He can’t meet Yukhei’s eyes as he pulls past the statue, shivers as the magic reaches for him and brushes him. ‘It’s not worth it.’

‘Why? What right does that kid think he has to just push you around?’ Yukhei pulls out of Donghyuck’s grasp.

‘Just leave it!’ Donghyuck’s voice is sharp and shrill. Something is shaking, his hand or his lip or his heart, and Yukhei must catch that because he sighs and the fire in his eyes settle a moment.

‘I’m sorry,’ he says.

Donghyuck nods, but he doesn’t say anything. He takes Yukhei’s hand again and walks through the village with as purposeful steps as he can take. His heart is thudding in his ears, echoing and he has to focus on Yukhei’s voice to tune it out.

 

 

They spend most of the morning wandering through stores, Yukhei enchanted by products and employees who have long become Donghyuck’s normal.

‘You sure you don’t want to go to Zonko’s?’ Yukhei asks, looking at the brightly coloured building at the end of the street. Donghyuck can see the third years, new to the excitement of the village, flocking to it and he shakes his head.

‘Anyone who needs a product from Zonko’s just isn’t trying hard enough.’

He’s not one for pranks either, after being on the other end of too many in the earlier years of Hogwarts. Mischievous, certainly, but some of the pranks in Zonko can be just mean and Donghyuck knows better than to position himself in a way that would make people think that he’s cruel.

‘How about lunch then, before it gets too busy?’ Yukhei suggests and he points towards The Three Broomsticks. ‘I’ve heard that the food there is good.’

‘I thought I was supposed to be the one leading you around Hogsmeade?’ Donghyuck raises an eyebrow at Yukhei, unable to keep the grin from curling across his face. ‘What are you doing, knowing where we should be eating?’

Yukhei flushes, ‘I mean ... Mark _mentioned_ it and I thought it sounded like a good idea.’

It sounds more like he’s asking a question and Donghyuck can’t help the laughter from bubbling up, unattractive and sharp.

‘You don’t have to sound so worried, I’m not going to bite your head off,’ he says as they draw closer and closer to the building. ‘The food is good here, and the lunch rush isn’t for another hour, so we can probably get a table to ourselves.’

Yukhei brightens up at that, following Donghyuck as he weaves his way around tables and students and the trays that dart from the bar to the tables. ‘Do you have anything you recommend?’

‘I always have something to recommend,’ Donghyuck says, grabbing a menu out of the air as it floats past. ‘Their pasties are good, so’s the soup.’

Still, he flicks the menu open for Yukhei to have a look at it as they settle at the table. A rag wipes away the few crumbs left over from whoever had been sitting there earlier, and Donghyuck takes a moment to look around the pub. It’s not too busy yet, some of the older and wiser students having also decided to go for an early lunch between the third years start crowding in.

He’s always liked the village of Hogsmeade better than the castle itself. There’s a tranquillity to it, and perhaps also a freedom to it. There are no stone walls surrounding him, wards stifling him, just the quiet community of people who don’t know his face.

‘Pasties?’ Yukhei repeats, and Donghyuck turns back to the older boy. Yukhei looks up, eyes wide and bright and he smiles. ‘I’m going to take your word for it, what d’you want? I’ll order.’

Donghyuck watches as Yukhei leaves for the counter. The boy ducks around a corner and narrowly avoids running over a third year, before he approaches the counter. Even with the general chatter that fills the pub, Donghyuck is sure that he can hear Yukhei’s laugh and he can’t help smiling himself.

Yukhei turns and waves at Donghyuck, and Donghyuck lets his face fall into his hands so he can cover the furious heat of his cheeks. This is _not_ supposed to be happening, Donghyuck is supposed to get through his years at Hogwarts with the reputation of being just cold and heartless enough that people will leave him alone. He has a carefully maintained persona, crafted by Jaemin Na whispering stories into first years’ ears.

Donghyuck Lee does not get _flustered._

‘You’d never believe what they have,’ Yukhei is vibrating as he settles back into the seat opposite Donghyuck. He’s got a glass in each hand, and Donghyuck pretends not to be touched that Yukhei got him a glass of pixie-charmed water. He mentioned it once. ‘It’s a drink made of the same stuff Fizzing Whizbees are made of.’

‘That’s nice,’ Donghyuck takes a sip of his water. He can’t help being dubious, some of the experimental drinks that the Three Broomsticks put out are ... temperamental at best. ‘You’re going to drink it, aren’t you?’

‘Yep,’ Yukhei swirls the drink in his hand.

‘Do you have any idea what it’s going to do to you?’

‘Nope,’ Yukhei grins and then _drains_ the glass.

Donghyuck realises, with a horrifying wave of resignation, exactly the sort of person that Yukhei is. He can’t believe he didn’t put the pieces together before, but now that the seed has been placed in his mind he can’t shake it.

‘Oh, Merlin,’ Donghyuck groans as Yukhei begins to lift out of his seat. The older boy lets out a delighted bark of a laughter as he floats higher and higher up towards the ceiling. ‘Yukhei, please come back down.’

‘I’m not coming down,’ he laughs. Yukhei tucks his legs underneath his body and tumbles through the air. ‘This is _awesome_!’

‘You,’ Donghyuck sighs, ‘are such a Gryffindor.’

‘Thank you.’

‘That wasn’t a compliment.’

 

 

 

Yukhei’s still floating slightly, a bounce to his step that Donghyuck has to keep under control, when they make their way out of the pub. They’d worked out that Donghyuck holding Yukhei’s hand was the best way to ground him, and it was lucky that the potion made him weightless.

‘I still can’t believe you went and ordered a second drink,’ Donghyuck pretends that he doesn’t want to constantly tug Yukhei back down to the street but it’s admittedly kind of sweet and Yukhei’s evidently enjoying himself. If Donghyuck wasn’t surrounded by the swarms of students, he might have even bought a glass to try. ‘If I let go of you now, you could just float away.’

‘You’re not going to do that,’ Yukhei sniffs, and he tips his chin down to look at Donghyuck. ‘No way that you’re going to do that.’

‘I could!’ He was sure he could, if it was Jaemin there is no doubt that he’d be able to do it. (Donghyuck briefly plays with the thought of buying a bottled version of the drink so that he can try it some day.) ‘I’m mean and scary,’ he play snarls and Yukhei’s expression drops for a second before he licks his lips.

‘Speaking of...’

Yukhei looks unnaturally nervous as he says it. In the brief time they’d gotten to know each other, he’s showed himself to be bright and unafraid and unsure doesn’t sit well on his features. It makes him look younger, more vulnerable and Donghyuck isn’t sure if he likes that.

‘It’s just a thing.’

He doesn’t want to lose this. This strange and delicate thing that has formed between himself at Yukhei. He doesn’t want to risk opening up for Yukhei to tear it all apart in fear and worry, as so many people before him have done.

‘I’m not,’ Yukhei runs his free hand through his hair. ‘I’m not going to be like them, I promise you. I don’t know what’s with the kids at this school, but they’re _awful_ to treat you like this. Don’t you trust me?’

Donghyuck swallows and he can’t help the lump in his throat as he looks up at Yukhei again.

‘No.’

Yukhei’s face crumbles. Donghyuck hates this, _hates this_ , because he doesn’t trust Yukhei but he could and that’s that most terrifying thing of all. He’s glad that Yukhei is tethered to the ground through him, because he tightens his grip on the older boy’s hand.

Donghyuck Lee doesn’t beg, not usually, but he can’t let this slip away from him.

‘Let me introduce you to someone, _please_ ,’ he whispers. ‘It’ll make a bit more sense.’

Yukhei exhales and he nods.

‘Thank you,’ Donghyuck murmurs.

 

 

The Duelling Halls of Hogsmeade is a looming building on the outskirts of the village. It’s old and often forgotten, overlooked in favour of the Shrieking Shack and the stores that line the main street. Occasionally, a brave third year would wander over, only to be turned away by the snarky receptionist that sits behind the front counter and pages through medical books.

The snarky receptionist likes Donghyuck though, so he just smiles at Donghyuck when the sixth year drags Yukhei through the entrance.

‘Duckie!’ Ten rises and walks around the side of the table to hug Donghyuck. ‘I thought you were coming in on Tuesday.’ He pulls back to look up at Yukhei and then their joined hands with a sharp, dangerous smile. ‘ _Who’s this?’_

_‘_ Ten, this is Yukhei,’ Donghyuck reaches into his pocket to pull out his wand. He flicks it and a ribbon grows out of the air and winds around their wrists. Donghyuck tries to pretend that he’s not disappointed that they’re not holding hands but he knows Ten can read him like a book. ‘Yukhei, this is Ten. He used to try and convince me that Professor Reynor was a vampire when I was a first year.’

‘He believed me,’ Ten laughs. ‘He _cried_.’

‘Ten is one of my least favourite people in the world,’ Donghyuck sniffs, and Yukhei’s smile is starting to brighten his face again.

‘Lies,’ Ten wanders back around the desk. ‘Johnny’s in Duelling Hall Three with Yuta, if you’re looking for him.’

‘Thanks,’ Donghyuck calls over his shoulder, and he drags Yukhei down the dimly lit corridor.

‘Who’s Johnny?’ Yukhei asks, toes brushing the floor as Donghyuck navigates them through the familiar paths that he’d grown up with.

‘You know we looked at the statue in the village?’ Donghyuck says. ‘The one that was destroyed by the duel between the Dark Lord Lee and Auror Seo?’

‘Yeah?’

‘Johnny is Auror Seo’s son.’

Donghyuck pushes the door to Hall Three open.

Johnny is a large man, which can be dangerous by duelling standards, but he’s quick and powerful and he’s duelled Yuta a thousand times before.

A bright purple light whips out of Johnny’s wand, cutting through the air towards Yuta. Yuta’s wand flicks out, casting a counter-hex to slow the impact of the spell. He fires off his own spell, something hot and burning and made from the elemental magic that Yuta is so attuned to, and Johnny doesn’t have time to cast a spell in return.

Instead, he rolls out the way.

‘Nice,’ he bites out before he leaps back onto his feet. Donghyuck watches silently as Johnny sends off a volley of spells, one-two-three after another that has Yuta stumbling back from the impact of them on his shield. ‘But not good enough, Nakamoto.’

‘John,’ Yuta smiles, that bright beautiful smile of his. ‘You need to stop talking and actually _duel me_.’

Johnny laughs. His arm works in sharp, strong jabs and Yuta matches each spell with a sweep of his own wand, drawing from the elements around him to ward off the spells that Johnny is using.

Donghyuck can’t help but watch as the two men dance around each other. Neither are afraid to take advantage of the space around them, and every time Johnny drives Yuta into a corner, Yuta will break free with a blast of wind.

They’ve got two different duelling styles, and Donghyuck can never look away from a moment when he watches the two duel. Johnny works in quick sharp reactions, whilst Yuta plans every step ahead of him in a quick game of chess that Donghyuck has long since wished he could emulate.

Yuta flicks forward another fire spell, but this time follows it with a quick tripping jinx that has Johnny falling onto his butt.

Donghyuck can’t help laughing, because Johnny is all limbs and he’s sprawled out on the floor. Yuta joins in, and he tucks his wand away to give Johnny a hand up.

‘Gotta keep an eye out for those mixed combinations,’ Yuta says, patting Johnny on the shoulder. ‘Duckie would have been able to see it a mile away.’

‘I did,’ Donghyuck says.

‘Yeah, because you were standing on the side,’ Johnny rolls his eyes. ‘I’ve seen you miss more obvious combinations, kid.’

Still, the words are affectionate and Donghyuck preens as Johnny runs a hand through Donghyuck’s hair. Yuta lets out a low laugh, and waves before heading down towards the back of the duelling hall.

Johnny turns to Yukhei, whose mouth has been open for the entire exchange. He holds out a hand and Yukhei takes it silently, his eyes darting to Donghyuck beside him before coming back to meet Johnny’s. Donghyuck can’t help the laughter that bubbles inside of him, because Yukhei can’t speak for once and it’s over _Johnny._

_‘_ Johnny Seo. I’m Donghyuck’s duelling coach.’

‘Yukhei... Wong,’ Yukhei manages to force out. ‘Student?’

Donghyuck pretends that he doesn’t notice Johnny’s raised eyebrow. So maybe he had told Johnny about Yukhei and how he was confused, because everything about this boy pointed him to being exactly the sort of person that Donghyuck would stay away from. And yet here they are.

‘Remember how I told you I do classes outside of school?’ Donghyuck grins. ‘This is where I do them.’

‘Oh, _wow_ ,’ Yukhei is still looking at Johnny and Donghyuck twists their hands together again, the ribbon slack between them, just so that he can give the boy’s hand a comforting squeeze. ‘But what does this have to do with ... _that_?’

Donghyuck sighs, ‘Johnny’s like, my older brother.’ Johnny visibly brightens at that, and Donghyuck is glad that he took Yukhei here to do this. Because right now he needs Johnny by his side, and Ten by the exit. He needs Yuta on the other side of the room, pretending not to eavesdrop, and Taeyong’s fussing and Sicheng’s giggling support.

The most important people in his life are in this building right now, he knows that.

‘He’s always looked after me,’ Donghyuck rest his head against Johnny’s chest, smiling up at me. ‘Which is the nicest thing that anyone’s ever done for me.’

‘Come off it,’ Johnny grins as he wipes the sweat away from his face. ‘I know for a fact that Renjun didn’t chokehold you once this week.’

Donghyuck snorts out a laugh. Yukhei’s face is still turned into an adorable little pout of confusion, and Donghyuck hopes that he’s not going to mess this all up by being too trusting or anything. He hopes that meeting Johnny will soften the blow -- Taeyong always said that it was a good idea to prelude bad news with good news, so the recipient is in a better mood beforehand. But Donghyuck’s not too sure how much that works.

‘Johnny’s the only person I trust,’ Donghyuck swallows the words even as he says them, feeling them sit in his stomach with a sick sort of truth.

‘Because he’s amazing and kind, and looked out for me when he absolutely didn’t have to. He had every reason to hate me, more reason than anyone else. And he didn’t.’ Donghyuck swallows and Johnny draws him in closer for a moment. Donghyuck never feels safer than when he’s by Johnny’s side and he exhales.

‘Why?’ Yukhei’s voice is soft and he’s looking at Donghyuck now. There’s nothing in his gaze that betrays the amazement of earlier, he looks so serious and ready for what Donghyuck has to say. There’s so much potential in this boy, and Donghyuck is scared that he’ll lose him.

‘Because his mother duelled my grandfather, and arrested him,’ Donghyuck sighs. It’s the first time he’s ever had to say this aloud, to someone who hasn’t known him and his family. ‘The reason no-one likes me at school is because I’m the grandkid of the last Dark Lord. And they think I’m going to follow in his footsteps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/neocitz) | [cc](https://curiouscat.me/neocitz)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a bit on the shorter side, but covers a lot of ground! hope you guys enjoy
> 
> un-beta'd

‘Did you put your name in The Goblet of Fire, Yukhei?’ Donghyuck asks, calmly.

(He is, in fact, not calm.)

His fingers drum a steady beat against the table, and he can hear Jaemin let out a low _ooooh, he’s gunna curse someone!_ that has third years squeaking in fear. Yukhei’s smile remains bright and light as he slides into the seat opposite him.

‘No?’ Yukhei is nowhere near as good as pretending to be innocent as Jaemin.

‘Yukhei,’ Donghyuck exhales, heavy and steady as he shuts his eyes.

‘Yes?’ Yukhei doesn’t sound as sure now and when Donghyuck opens his eyes again, he can see that Yukhei’s shoulders have dropped slightly.

‘ _Yukhei!_ ’

‘I thought you said it was pretty cool that I was trying this?’

People are starting to look at them, and Donghyuck swallows. There’s a bubble around him and his friends, even as the feast roars with life, and he glares at them. He will not, _cannot_ , start yelling during the Champion Feast.  

‘That’s because I didn’t think you’d _actually_ become champion.’

‘Wow,’ Yukhei draws back. Donghyuck crosses his arms in front of him, lower jaw jutting out because this is _ridiculous_. ‘I actually thought you’d be excited for me.’

Donghyuck lets out a bark of laughter, something sharp and cold and he _knows_ that people are starting to look at him. His wand’s downstairs in the dungeons, because he knows better than to bring it to an event like this, but his fingers still flex slightly.

‘So, what,’ Yukhei’s voice is cold and level but Donghyuck doesn’t look at him, ‘our conversation on Saturday was just you bullshitting?’

He can ignore the way Yukhei’s smile has dimmed, the way it’s bounced through hurt and into aggression. Donghyuck can only think of the books he’d read yesterday, and the day before that, about the people who had come out of the Triwizard Tournament jaded and changed.

About the people who didn’t make it back.

‘No,’ he wants to draw back, and into himself but more and more people are looking. Yukhei’s loud (Donghyuck is as well) and he knows that they’re drawing more and more attention. Donghyuck knows better than to let those people see him waver and shake.

Donghyuck’s gaze jumps around the hall, to where Mark is at the Gryffindor Table getting patted on the back with grins, to the Ravenclaws who are debating about what the first task will be. All of them are watching him out of the corner of their eyes.

‘Because it sounds like it.’

‘Hyuck,’ Renjun’s voice is low and his hand rests on Donghyuck’s elbow. It grounds him, pulls him back from looking at the people in the hall, and back to the boy in front of him and the friends by his side.

He squares his shoulders. ‘Go celebrate with Mark or something,’ Donghyuck hisses. ‘The two of you can die together.’

Donghyuck pushes himself away from the table, and he hears Jeno apologising to Yukhei as he storms out of the hall. The silence that he didn’t notice breaks, hushed whispers echoing around him, and Donghyuck hates how that twists deeper into his stomach.

‘Hyuck!’

Donghyuck’s shoulders slump forward and he can’t help that his jaw is trembling as long arm wind around his waist. He doesn’t need to open his eyes to know that it’s Jaemin who is guiding him to the hidden alcove behind the tapestry of Merlin’s animagus form.

‘Hey, what’s wrong,’ Jeno’s the one who seats him down, and pulls him in close. ‘I thought Yukhei was cool with the whole family thing?’

‘He was?’ Donghyuck can’t help the way his breath stutters out, because he’s not crying but he’s close to. ‘I don’t know, I _don’t know_.’

Renjun crouches down in front of Donghyuck, his eyes wide and he’s patting Donghyuck’s cheeks as if there are already tears to wipe away. ‘You told us that he was really understanding about it, has he said anything mean to you since?’

‘No,’ Donghyuck exhales, and he can’t help for something, any of the three boys who surround him. Renjun catches them, tangling their fingers together and squeezing. ‘He’s been really nice.’

‘Then,’ Jeno’s voice is soft, right next to Donghyuck’s ear and he readjusts them so Donghyuck is pressed into his shoulder, ‘why are you pushing him away? All he wanted to do was share that with you?’

‘I don’t know,’ he repeats, and the words feel like they have no meaning on his tongue as they roll off it. ‘Everyone was just looking at me and I just… didn’t know what to do.’

‘It’s okay,’ Jaemin murmurs, and he’s combing his fingers through his hair. Donghyuck presses his eyes closed, and he knows that they’re looking at each other, worrying about him in the way that he hates but also is also secretly thankful for. ‘It’ll be okay.’

 

 

Donghyuck isn’t hiding.

He’s just selectively choosing to interact with the rest of the student population at Hogwarts.

The house-elves are kind enough to let them eat in the kitchens when they need to, as long as they stay out of the way. So Donghyuck has elected to in the kitchens for the past three days so he doesn’t have to look at anyone in the Great Hall.

‘And this,’ Jaemin says, biting into his dinner, ‘is why you’re not a Gryffindor.’

‘I’m not scared,’ Donghyuck sniffs, even though Renjun and Jeno are both raising an eyebrow at him. ‘I’m just picking my battles.’

He’s no longer shaky, mind settled just that little bit more, and his friends are aware of that. It’s not that Donghyuck doesn’t appreciate when they’re supporting him, but he hates being treated as fragile and it’s more comfortable when they’re biting insults and jokes around dinner.

‘Of course you are,’ Renjun rolls his eyes and scoops out some more mashed potatoes. ‘Which is none of them whatsoever.’

‘Exactly,’ Donghyuck nods.

‘Seriously?’ the kitchen door creeps open and they turn to see Mark Lee step around a house elf. ‘I’ve been looking for you guys for days.’

‘You could have just… asked us?’ Jaemin raises an eyebrow and shoves a plate forward. ‘Between classes or something.’

‘Yeah, because our classes line up like that,’ Mark’s laugh is awkward but they’re all used to it. ‘By the way, are you still mad about the summer? Are you talking to me again?’

This is directed at Donghyuck, who rolls his eyes. Trust Mark Lee to stay away from them for two and a half months and then try to clear it up with a stupid question like that.

‘I don’t know, _Mark_. Are you sorry that you blew up my favourite cauldron yet?’

‘I was sorry! I told you I was sorry two seconds after I did it.’

‘No, you weren’t,’ Renjun coughs, and it earns him a glare from Mark. ‘What was it that he said again?’

‘Whoo, that was awesome,’ Jeno says with a deadpan tone. Donghyuck lets his eyes drift shut for a moment, pressing together in memory of his favourite cauldron and Mark Lee’s inability to do anything to do with potionsmaking or alchemy without blowing it up on the first go.

‘I’ll forgive you, this once,’ he says, with a delicate sort of pride as he looks to Mark. ‘If you make it up to me.’

Mark laughs, and that’s how Donghyuck knows that everything’s okay between them until the next fight. He passes a cup of pumpkin juice to the older boy.

‘Congratulations,’ he adds, because even though he’s sick with worry there’s also that underlying pride for his friend. ‘On the Champion thing. I would have said it earlier, but there was …’

‘A thing,’ Mark follows with a nod. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that they’ve been talking about him, from the way they exchange glances and Donghyuck clears his throat.

This might have been the first time they’ve been together as five in ages, but he knows that Jeno and Mark meet up for Quidditch, and Jaemin and Mark study together on Thursdays, and Renjun and Mark share one class together.

‘Speaking of,’ Mark runs his fingers through his hair. ‘I might have gotten the brief for the first task.’ Which mean Yukhei has gotten it to, Donghyuck realises. ‘And it might possibly be potions related.’

A silence falls over the table, and Donghyuck groans. ‘Oh my god, you’re going to _die._ ’

‘Please help me,’ Mark pleads, smiling at the four of them as sweetly as he can. ‘You guys know how bad I am at potions.’

Hogwarts’ Golden Boy, Donghyuck thinks bitterly.

‘We’ll do our best to help,’ Jaemin says, even though he dropped Potions at the start of the year and had been celebrating ever since. ‘What kind of friends would we be if we let you fail in front of the entire school?’

‘That’s… kind of tempting actually,’ Renjun teases and Mark gives a little frustrated flail of his hands. ‘Of course we’re going to help, you dumbass.’

‘Hyuck?’ Mark turns to Donghyuck with wide round eyes and Donghyuck hates how he can hold a grudge of two months but be broken down completely in a second.

‘As long as you don’t blow up another cauldron,’ he brandishes a fork, ‘and as long as it’s not this weekend.’

‘Dude,’ Mark laughs, ‘bro, of course not. We all know how important this weekend is to you!’

Donghyuck doesn’t say anything but his chest warms, unreasonably happy that they’ve remembered.

 

 

‘Blackthorn,’ the witch’s prim voice reads out in a neutral tone, ‘with _three_ unicorn hairs.’ Her eyes raise up to meet with Donghyuck’s gaze, and her lips curl up slightly. ‘That is an unusual combination.’

‘You say that every time we do this, Alberta,’ Johnny laughs, squeezing Donghyuck’s shoulder lightly. ‘How many years has it been?’

‘Not enough,’ she taps a piece of paper with her own wand and hands it over to Donghyuck. His fingers itch to take back his wand as well, and the older woman lets out a laugh before handing them over. ‘I’m interested to see what would happen if you got another wand, Donghyuck. It’d definitely be just as strange as your first.’

‘Hopefully I won’t need one,’ he says, twisting his wand between his fingers. ‘I’d be hopeless at duelling with two wands.’

‘You’d be surprised,’ Alberta hands another form to Johnny, who folds it away. ‘There’s a couple of dual wand-wielders, it’d be good for him to meet some of them.’

‘I’ll keep an eye out,’ Johnny nods, thanking her before stepping out of the line and into the rush of competitors.

Duels are a knut for nine. Almost every wizard or witch who can cast an offensive spell thinks they’re good enough for a duel. It’s a practice that the Ministry is trying to ban, but Donghyuck knows that it just makes it all the more daring and exciting to challenge your mate to a duel over the smallest inconvenience.

But the ones like today are a rarity.

Duellists from all around the world have flocked to the duelling halls in Athens, and Donghyuck knows almost all of them. They respect him here, because of his skills and not because of his lineage.

It’s why these days are among his favourites.

‘How many duels do I have to do today?’ Donghyuck asks as they weave through to the crowd to try and find Taeyong. He’s barely had a chance to keep up with the competitors in his division between schoolwork and training, and he feels a bit guilty for that.

‘Four, _hopefully_ ,’ Johnny flicks his wand, eyes darting from person to person. ‘It’s not a large tournament for your group this year, too many kids preparing for graduation.’

Johnny’s own tournament was much longer and would last the entire weekend. Donghyuck was a bit disappointed that he’d not be able to watch the entire thing, but both Johnny and Taeyong insisted that he go back to school at the end of the first day with Yuta.

‘Donghyuck Lee!’ a jovial voice rings out, and Donghyuck feels his cheeks curl up into a grin when he sees Kibum powering through the crowd. ‘I heard you were competing this weekend but I was worried when you didn’t turn up to breakfast.’

‘Kid was up all-night working on an essay,’ Johnny rolls his eyes fondly as Kibum hugs Donghyuck.

‘That’s right, you’re in… your last year of Hogwarts?’

‘Second last,’ Donghyuck corrects. ‘I’ve started preparing for my NEWTs.’

‘Top of his classes,’ Johnny says, preening and Kibum lets out a low whistle.

‘Keep with it. I know that you’re pretty much set when you enter the professional scene, but it’s good that you’re sticking with school.’ Kibum’s voice is serious, his sharp eyes settled on Donghyuck and Donghyuck can’t help but nod under the man’s gaze. ‘Listen, Minho’s duelling later today at about seven?’

‘We’ll catch you then,’ Johnny promises.

Kibum flashes out of sight again, probably going to get an idea of who he might be up against later that weekend. Donghyuck still can’t believe, somewhat, that he _knows_ Kibum Kim. Let alone that the duellist likes him.

‘Please say that I can watch that,’ Donghyuck turns to look up at Johnny. ‘ _Please_ don’t send me home.’

Johnny’s lips curl up into a smile and Donghyuck already knows that he’s won.

 

 

‘I can’t believe we’re not duelling this year,’ a soft voice says in Donghyuck’s ear.

Donghyuck spins with a grin to look up at Jungwoo. ‘That’s what you get for aging out of the junior’s division,’ he says, crossing his arms in front of him. ‘You just had to go and become an adult, didn’t you?’

Jungwoo laughs, settling down on the seat next to him.

Johnny and Taeyong are doing some paperwork, in the little corner that’s been assigned to their duelling hall. They won’t mind if Donghyuck talks to Jungwoo instead of running through the spells he’s supposed to be doing.

It’s been months since he’s seen the other wizard.  

‘Do you know who you’re up against first?’ Donghyuck asks.

‘Bobby,’ Jungwoo winces and Donghyuck lets out a low hiss of sympathy. He’s never been able to duel the American wizard merely because he’s been too young, but he’s watched him duel and he’s terrifying and quick when he wants to be. ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence,’ Jungwoo rolls his eyes.

‘Shuddup,’ Donghyuck laughs, resting his head against Jungwoo’s shoulder. ‘We’re all here because we’re good, there’s no competitor that could clearly lose against any one.’

‘True,’ Jungwoo nods. ‘I heard you’re up against that kid from Tibet first? The one who knocked out Haknyeon out in one blow last year.’

‘Great,’ Donghyuck sighs.  ‘That’s just what I needed, thanks.’

Jungwoo laughs, and he sighs. ‘So, tell me what’s been happening on your side of the channel? How’s everything at Hogwarts?’

Donghyuck doesn’t know where to start.

 

 

‘Bow,’ the official’s clipped accent rings out through the hall.

Donghyuck bends at the waist, holding it for the requisite seconds before standing up again to meet his opponent’s strong gaze.

The boy across the arena from him has his own confident smile on his face and Donghyuck knows this is going to be a fun duel.

‘On my mark,’ the official raises his wand and Donghyuck waits for the flash of sparks before throwing up a shielding charm.

His opponent’s spell ricochets off the side and fizzles out of existence at the edge of the wards protecting their audience. He doesn’t look surprised and casts off another one in the moment between Donghyuck dropping his shield and launching an attack.

Donghyuck has to roll out to the side and whips out his own spell, the purple-blue light cutting through the arena and catching on the edge of his opponent’s arm. He hears the clapping of the audience but doesn’t have enough time to acknowledge it before he’s caught in the mid-drift by a spell that leaves him winded and his legs collapsing out from under him.

He casts another spell, this time aiming at his opponent’s feet and watches in satisfaction as his opponent starts sinking into the ground.

It gives him enough time to catalogue the spell and start working on a counter-jinx. He has maybe twenty seconds before his opponent can drag himself out of the sinkhole and it’s time that he can’t let himself waste.

Donghyuck’s legs strengthen with each _finite_ he points at himself and he pushes himself back onto shaky legs as he begins to cast another stronger spell.

‘ _Confringo!’_ his opponent yells, and Donghyuck barely manages to brace himself before he’s thrown against the barrier. He groans and flicks his wand again, abandoning the environmental spell that he was working on.

The opponent is ripped out of the ground at Donghyuck’s spell and he hangs in the air. Donghyuck runs his fingers against his wands and then flicks it again, dropping his opponent to the ground.

It’s a quick and dirty duel, Donghyuck knows, and it’s probably not that skilful, but Donghyuck knows that if he wants to win the competition he needs to save his best spellwork until the end of the day.

He takes advantage of the boy’s disorientation and disarms him.

Donghyuck moves to the next round.

 

 

‘Bro!’ Donghyuck gets barely any time between Mark calling out his name and Mark throwing himself around his shoulders. ‘We just heard from Ten, you _killed_ it!’

Jeno, Renjun and Jaemin are a few steps behind him, grins broad on their faces as Donghyuck drops his bag down by his feet.

‘Barely, I nearly lost in the second round thanks to a freaking _tripping_ jinx,’ Donghyuck is still annoyed at that, even though he had both silenced and bound his opponent before winning the duel. ‘I’m out of practice.’

‘Still,’ Mark drags him forward as Jeno picks up Donghyuck’s overnight bag. ‘I can’t wait until the summer. You’re participating in the Summer Comps aren’t you?’

‘Just one or two in France,’ Donghyuck shrugs. ‘Johnny wants me to experience different styles and stuff, we’re going to see if I can learn from some different coaches. Practice some different types of magic and stuff.’

‘That’s going to be so cool,’ Jeno grins, slinging his free arm around Donghyuck’s shoulder.

‘Did you guys get any work done?’ he asks instead, because he can’t feel proud of his achievements in these damn halls. ‘For the first task?’

‘I mean,’ Mark runs a hand through his hair and smiles. Which means that they absolutely didn’t get anything done.

Donghyuck sighs, and they are really lucky that he is way too tired to deal with trying to break down the small clues that Mark was given. ‘Let’s just go to the dormitories, how about? Johnny gave me some butterbeer to celebrate my win, and I’ve got a ton of sweets in my bag.’

Jeno’s already rummaging through it and, again, Donghyuck doesn’t understand what Renjun and Jaemin see in him. He’s not going to argue tonight though, not when he’s duelled four kids and watched countless more. Every part of him is exhausted, and Mark’s more carrying him than anything as they make their way down to the dungeons.

‘Lucas! Bro, sorry, I can’t hang tonight,’ Mark’s voice cuts through Donghyuck’s exhausted daze, and he lifts his head slightly to look at a wide-eyed Yukhei. Mark’s arm around his waist squeezes for a moment and Donghyuck’s shifted ever so slightly _behind_ Mark. It allows him to avert his gaze again. ‘Hyuck’s just had a really good duel, so I’m going to be at his dorm celebrating tonight.’

‘Yeah,’ Yukhei’s voice sounds week and Donghyuck realises he hates it. He hates how it’s not the loud and bright voice that he’s gotten used to. ‘That’s fine, we can hang out tomorrow yeah?’

‘Sounds great.’

Donghyuck looks up, only for a moment, and he can’t breathe because Yukhei is look at him. His gaze hasn’t moved, and he’s not angry but there’s something else that takes Donghyuck a moment to read.

‘Catch you later,’ Jaemin says, pushing Donghyuck and Mark away from him.

‘Damn,’ Jeno breathes once they’re away from him. ‘I’m not saying that you need to talk to him soon, Hyuck. But you need to talk to him, _soon_.’

‘What’s going on?’ Mark steps back to look between them. ‘ _Guys!_ ’

‘So much, Mark. _So much_.’ Renjun sighs and Donghyuck knows that their celebrating session is more likely going to be counselling. He should probably ask a house elf to bring up some hot chocolate and marshmallows.  

 

 

Yukhei is waiting outside his classroom, when he steps out into the corridor. He’s wearing his Durmstang uniform, and it’s bright against the black robes of the Hogwarts students that wander past him. It makes him look tall and regal and a lot older than them, and Donghyuck’s breath catches in his throat at the sight of him.

Donghyuck hesitates, and it’s only Jaemin’s hand at the base of his back that encourages him to stumble those few steps closer to the older boy.

‘Hi,’ he whispers, unable to look at Yukhei until the older boy curls a hand around his. Jaemin mutters something, but he doesn’t catch it as Yukhei begins to pull him away from the crowds.

‘You didn’t tell me about your duel,’ Yukhei says, drawing Donghyuck into an abandoned corridor. The icy air washes over him and Donghyuck pulls his robes tighter around his shoulders. It’s empty and old, and Donghyuck feels as if the school doesn’t exist for a moment as he looks up at Yukhei.

‘I mean, we weren’t exactly talking, were we?’ he hates how his voice cracks a little bit because he knows it’s his fault. Mark and Jeno might soothe him, tell him that it’s okay but deep down Donghyuck knows that he snapped at Yukhei because he was scared.

‘Doesn’t meant I didn’t want to know,’ Yukhei mumbles. ‘I wasn’t mad, not for long. I know that you think that the tournament’s dumb and that I’m dumb for wanting to do it, but I mean…’

‘No,’ Donghyuck cuts him off, and his hands fly up to grasp Yukhei’s cheeks. ‘I don’t think you’re dumb for wanting to participate. I was just… being _awful_ to you. I’m awful to a lot of people.’

‘No, you’re not.’

‘Yes I am. You know that I haven’t talked to Mark in weeks because of some petty argument we had over the summer? I practically isolated him from us and it was my fault.’ His hands are still on Yukhei’s cheeks, he realises, and they drop down to his side.

‘He explained that to me, last night,’ Yukhei shifts.

Donghyuck forgets how good a friend Mark is, sometimes, and he is constantly grateful to the older boy for putting up with his shit. Because for days he’s been lingering in this state of almosts and what ifs and Mark was the one who took him by the hands and told him to just apologise.

Donghyuck’s working up to that bit, but Mark’s the one who’s set the foundations for them.

‘He also told me that you lash out when you’re angry and when you’re scared,’ Yukhei’s looking at him and his eyes are so soft and kind that Donghyuck wonders how someone as nice as Yukhei can like him. ‘And that you overthink, and that’s why you got mad at the feast.’

‘That’s not an excuse,’ Donghyuck says. He’s playing with the sleeve of his robes and Yukhei catches his hands.

‘I know it’s not one, but I want to get to know you, Donghyuck. I want to understand you,’ Yukhei murmurs the words, as if they’re hiding from the world even though they’re alone.

It’s stifling and frightening and Donghyuck’s body and mind is screaming for him to run but he can’t move from where he’s standing. Because Yukhei is this kind, sweet boy who seems to take all of Donghyuck’s flaws and accepts them instead of exposing them to the world and breaking him bit by bit.

‘Yukhei,’ Donghyuck sighs, ‘just… What are you trying to say?’

Yukhei looks down at Donghyuck, ‘I’m saying that I want to support you, and that I want you to trust me. Or at least like me, I don’t know? When it’s just us, you’re like _amazing_ because you’re passionate and opinionated and funny? And I want to see more of that, I want you to realise that I’m not going to hurt you. I don’t want you to push me away.’

Donghyuck bites his lip, and he lets out a slow and steady exhale.

‘What can I do?’

‘You can stop running away from me, every time you see me,’ Yukhei says, and his attention is so intimidating when it’s locked on Donghyuck. ‘You can tell me the truth, instead of lying to me. You can be yourself, because I don’t want the cold Donghyuck that your school thinks you are. That’s all I want.’

Donghyuck nods. ‘Okay, I’ll try that.’

Yukhei’s face breaks out into a smile and Donghyuck can’t believe how long it’s been since he saw it. It’s _beautiful_ Donghyuck realises in that moment and his stomach tightens in realisation then relaxes. It’s beautiful, and it’s for him.

Donghyuck reaches up again hand resting on Yukhei’s cheek before he pulls the boy in closer for a hug. The older boy is confused and Donghyuck presses into Yukhei for a long moment, waiting for the other boy’s arms to wrap around him in return before pulling back.

‘I _am_ proud of you, and happy for you. Being the Durmstrang Champion is a big deal.’ He has to get up on his toes, but he brushes a kiss to Yukhei’s cheek and smiles at him.

He walks away then, and he hears a stuttered laugh and a whoop of excitement. He can’t help the small bounce in his step, because things are starting to come together for him.

 

 

The first task is held in one of the abandoned ballrooms in the school. It’s been cleaned out and decorated with lights that float above them. Donghyuck’s never been inside this room, and marvels at the intricate carvings on the rafters above them as he walks in.

‘Why are you such a nerd?’ Jeno breathes shoving Donghyuck forward. ‘We’re here to watch Mark win at the task, not look at the pretty ceiling.’

‘I will hex you,’ Donghyuck hisses as he steps over some seats into the middle. ‘You know I will.’

‘Will both of you shut up?’ Renjun elbows him in the stomach. ‘I haven’t seen Jaemin since breakfast.’

‘He went to the hospital wing to get a potion, he wasn’t feeling well,’ Donghyuck explains. ‘There were a ton of people when I dropped him off. Probably got a bad batch of eggs or something. I’m sure he won’t be more than a few minutes.’

He’s only got a few minutes until the tasks starts, the students settling down and getting ready for the event. Almost no-one knows what it is, the only hints being the three tables covered with potions equipment and a large chest by the back wall.

Donghyuck shifts, he’s nervous and excited and the feeling in his stomach is similar to the moments before he’s called up for a duel. There’s little that can go wrong today, he’s sure of it.

Silence falls, as the champions and officials file in through a door to the side.

A quietly furious Professor Bae stands in the centre of the room. Donghyuck can only tell from the clench of her jaw and the tapping of her wand against her thigh that she’s about two minutes from cursing someone.

Most of the students don’t care, necks arching to try and get a better look at the three champions standing behind her.

Mark’s in the middle, and he’s jittery with excitement and worry. Donghyuck shoots him a thumbs up that’s received with a grateful smile. Yukhei looks unnaturally stiff, eyes fixed straight ahead and Donghyuck’s not even sure that Yukhei can see him. The only one who looks relaxed is the Beauxbatons Champion, a girl called Yeri.

She’s looking at Professor Bae with a contemplative little tilt to her head.

‘Students,’ Professor Bae says, voice echoing through the room. ‘Welcome to the First Task of the Triwizard Tournament. I’d like to introduce you to the coordinator of this event, Claudine Urias.’

She steps aside, and a willowy woman steps forth.

Donghyuck tunes out most of the pleasantries, the rules and whatnot that have been repeated time and time again since they first announced the tournament. Instead he takes in the three champions, smiles slightly when Mark pats Yukhei on the lower back just so that the Dumrstrang student relaxes a little bit.

‘Now, I’m sure you’ve all been waiting for the final reveal,’ Claudine says, and Donghyuck’s attention snaps back to her. The entire room’s attention is fixed on her, and she lifts her chin up to look at the students, a little smirk on her lips.

Professor Bae’s fingers clench again and Donghyuck wonders what it is that has gotten her so upset.

‘Today, your champions will be asked to analyse a poison,’ she waves her wand and three vials floats out of her pocket. They spin slowly, and everyone’s attention fixates on them. Donghyuck’s heart catches in his throat. ‘They will then have to brew an antidote for this poison.’

‘That’s not too bad,’ Jeno murmurs.

Mark, Yukhei and Yeri are all nodding to themselves, little whispers as they talk between each other. Donghyuck’s eyes fly around the room, however, and he takes in the groups of friends that line the seats surrounding the room.

‘Guys,’ he breathes, ‘ _Jaemin_.’

‘You said he’s on his way, didn’t you?’ Renjun turns to Donghyuck, freezing when he sees Donghyuck’s wide eyes. ‘No.’ Renjun’s already rising up to stand, Jeno’s hand pulling him back down as they watch more people file into the room.

Jaemin stands in the middle of the line, red and sweating as his eyes fall on them.

‘Ten students have ingested the poison already,’ Claudine says and Donghyuck wonders how this woman can be so tranquil as she stands there. ‘Champions, you have the poison, the victims and your ingredients. You have three hours.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twt](http://twitter.com/neocitz) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/neocitz)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> just a note to say that i've extended the length of the task to three hours, it's not hugely relevant but it is a minor change. 
> 
> i've also put a [poll](https://twitter.com/neocitz/status/998838401162854401) up because i'm curious to see who people think will win the triwizard tournament! feel free to vote before or after this chapter or leave a comment if you don't have twt. 
> 
> un-beta'd

A clear chime echoes throughout the ballroom and a counter starts to tick down above the champions’ head. None of them move, smiles frozen on their faces as Claudine’s words sink into the crowd of students. There’s a stillness to the room, no-one and nothing dares to move except the numbers that are counting down, down, down.

Jaemin’s eyes haven’t left their little trio on the benches, wide and shaking.

‘What the _fuck?_ ’

There’s a gasp of surprise from a few of the younger years, but the few professors in the room don’t even bother to silence Renjun’s irritated voice. He’s still trying to stand up, Jeno grappling at his shoulders to drag him back into their seats.

All eyes are on them, and for once it’s not because of Donghyuck.

‘Injunnie,’ Jeno’s trying to soothe him, calm him down but his eyes are just as wide as Donghyuck’s and his voice is dry in his throat. ‘Sit down.’

‘No, seriously,’ Renjun’s voice is loud and seething, slowly being overtaken by the many rising cries of students around them. ‘This has to be illegal? The school is meant to ensure we’re safe, not _poison_ the students.’

‘Mr Huang,’ Professor Im, a taller man who teaches Herbology, rises up. ‘This is hardly the time or place.’

‘Please,’ Jeno’s stronger than Renjun but he can barely pull the smaller boy back down. ‘There’s nothing we can do now, _save_ it for later.’

Donghyuck realises that Jeno’s eyes aren’t on Jaemin but instead on the numbers that count down in a steady beat. Their time has only just started, but the hours are chipping away in front of them and Donghyuck wills the champions to move.

‘Mr Huang, was it?’ Claudine’s voice cuts through the voices as the witch steps forward. ‘I suggest you sit down and stop wasting _precious_ time.’ The words are accompanied with a too-sweet smile directed at the three students who have barely moved.

It’s then that they shake out of their reverie.

Mark stumbles forward at her words, but instead of heading to the workbenches, he’s got his hand on Jaemin’s chest as he looks to the younger Slytherin. None of them can hear what they’re saying from the seats, but Mark’s brow has dropped into a frown and that’s enough for Donghyuck to reach out and grab Renjun      ’s hand.

‘What is this?’ Renjun’s voice is clenched in his throat as Jeno finally wrestles him back into his seat. ‘Three hours for an antidote?’

‘Less,’ Donghyuck breathes, watching as the counter continues to flip through the numbers. Jeno’s finger is tapping to the beat of the seconds against Renjun’s arm and Donghyuck grabs it to stall the rapid beat.  

‘What kind of bullshit is this?’ Renjun’s shaking, Donghyuck realises, and he is as well. ‘What were they thinking?’

‘It’s probably not their fault?’ Donghyuck’s voice sounds distant to his own ears. ‘Look at Professor Bae.’ The witch’s lips are pressed into such a thin line, and she’s got a hand on the lower back of a tall boy from fifth year. He’s the youngest of the victims, if Donghyuck remembers correctly.

Professor Im and Professor Neilson are summoning chairs, easing the poisoned students down with quiet soothing words. One of the older boys is heaving with sobs, whilst a girl is holding back tears as she collapses down. Jaemin isn’t crying, but he’s never been one for that. His jaw is tight and his fingers are clenched with his robes as he stares straight ahead.

Yukhei and Yeri are systematically unpacking the chest at the back wall, dividing the ingredients between them. None of the poisoned students are from Durmstrang or Beauxbatons, and it’s quietly obvious that they don’t have that same emotional attachment as Mark.

Donghyuck would argue that it’s unfair, if not for the fact that this entire mess is unfair.

‘Are they even allowed to do this?’ Renjun asks, half-collapsed in Jeno’s hold even as his anger and fear war with each other.  ‘How is this even happening?’

‘Magic,’ Jeno shudders and there’s a dull edge to his voice. He’s finally stopped looking at the numbers, more focused on the boy in his arms but there’s no smile or even stoic assessment, it’s an empty look that makes him look young. ‘The Triwizard Tournament is older than modern laws. There isn’t anything they can do once it started.’

Renjun swallows and Donghyuck bites back the curse that threatens to spill off his lips. He had suspected it, but the reality confirmed by Jeno is enough to amplify the feeling in his stomach into a full proper sickness.

There’s nothing that any of them can do, not with the full weight of the magic stunting even Professor Bae’s actions. They can only hope that the champions manage to solve the antidote before it’s too late.

 

 

The potions are still floating in the air when the victims are settled, and Yeri snatches one as she stalks past Claudine.

‘What do you think it is?’ Renjun’s calmed down, but only slightly, and Donghyuck is almost completely sure he’s trying to distract himself with thoughts of what the poison is. Out of all of them, he would probably have made the best Ravenclaw. He has a determination to learn and think about things logically in a way that Donghyuck can’t emulate and only respect.

‘Can’t tell from here,’ Jeno’s squinting slightly. ‘It looks like it’s shifting colours, red and oranges?’

‘So, it’s supposed to be _subtle_ ,’ Donghyuck half-sneers the words, even though it’s not really directed at anyone or anything. 

‘But slow acting, at least?’ And it’s the weakest consolation any of them have heard, because slow-acting poisons were not any less poisonous than the faster ones. ‘At least it wasn’t blue.’

‘It doesn’t work like that, Injunnie,’ Jeno murmurs and Donghyuck can’t help that the stray thought that the line would have a joke if said under better circumstances. ‘Blue poisons being more powerful are just an old hag’s tale.’

‘At least let me hope,’ Renjun says.

‘I wish we could have a closer look at the potion,’ Donghyuck mutters as he watches Mark and Yukhei examine the potions as well. Mark’s shaking the potion, and even from a distance Donghyuck can see the colours separate and then settle again. ‘Not that we could do much about it.’

‘Mark needs to test it against some herbs, and potions,’ Renjun says, tapping his fingers in a quick procession as they watch the three champions. ‘He knows how to do that, doesn’t he?’

‘He should, he _is_ still doing NEWT level potions,’ and now is really not the time for any of them to be teasing Mark’s more experimental potions abilities. The words feel acidic on his tongue, but Donghyuck can’t bear to sit in silence as he waits for the task to go past.

Sure enough, Mark’s flicking through the ingredients that are spread out across his table. His hands are hesitant, and Donghyuck can see the way his eyes are darting between the other two champions from so far away.

Yukhei is much more stable, Donghyuck can’t help but notice. He’s spread things out across the long table, and has a small dropper in hand that he’s using to drop the poison. Donghyuck presses his nails into his palms as he watches Yukhei work.

‘What’s he doing?’ Jeno asks, and Donghyuck almost answers before he realising that Jeno’s talking about Mark.

‘I don’t know.’

Mark’s put down the poison, at least for a moment, and he’s walked over to where Jaemin is sitting. He’s got a palm against Jaemin’s forehead and he’s murmuring quietly, before a spell is whispered from the adjudicator’s bench.

‘How are you feeling?’ Mark’s voice echoes, and he flinches in surprise at the amplification spell that hangs over them.

‘You know,’ Jaemin forces a laugh, and his eyes fix on Jeno and Renjun. ‘All right, but not brilliant.’

‘What do you feel?’ Mark asks, and Donghyuck exhales a little bit.

‘I feel hot,’ Jaemin’s voice is more of a rasp than usual, and Donghyuck sees Mark note it down on a slip of parchment that he didn’t even notice the older boy grabbing. ‘Like my skin’s on _fire_.’

Jeno lets out a soft sound of pure hurt, and Renjun’s quick to grasp his hand again.

Yukhei and Yeri have looked up from their tables, to where Mark’s dabbing the sweat on Jaemin’s forehead. There’s a silent agreement between the three of them, and Yeri goes back to analysing the poison.

‘Follow my finger,’ Yukhei says, walking to one of the kids who Donghyuck doesn’t know too well. His finger moves in a steady line, and only the kids in the front row would be able to see if the victim is able to track it. ‘Not tracking,’ he murmurs. It would have gone unheard, if not for the spell that amplifies everything, and he winces when someone gasps in the crowd.

‘Does anything hurt?’ Mark asks, after a long moment where he and Yukhei just _looked_ at each other. Donghyuck’s sure there’s something of a conversation happening between them, but there’s nothing he can confirm from so far away.

‘My skin, and my stomach,’ another student says.

Mark lets out a few comforting sounds, combing fingers through sweaty hair, as Yukhei waves his wand around over the students. They’re movements that Donghyuck only recognises from the side of the duelling halls, movements Taeyong used to use _before_ , diagnostics spells.

‘ _Champions_ ,’ Claudine rises from her seat and Yeri’s eyes settle on her with a stunning sharpness considering how sweet the girl looks.

‘There’s nothing in the rules that says we can’t work together for this,’ Yeri says, and she floats a couple of the results from the tables around. Donghyuck can see the bright blue of the poison being mixed with aconite, and the shrivelled remnants of an oak leaf.

It’s nothing he’s seen before, and he knows the others haven’t either. There’s no gasp of understanding or relief coursing through their shoulders. It doesn’t bode well, Donghyuck knows distantly, because the three of them are the potions students of their little group.

‘That does not mean that the three of you should be colluding.’ Donghyuck can’t see Claudine’s face, but they can hear the sharp tilt of her voice.

‘No, but it does mean we can’t get in trouble for doing it,’ Yeri says and she taps her wand to light the fire under the burner. ‘Boys?’

‘Elevated heartbeats,’ Yukhei’s rough voice echoes out as he studies each student with his spell work. ‘Temperature edging into a fever, and they’re all dehydrated.’

He stops and he turns to look at Claudine. Donghyuck’s seen him smile, seen him laugh, seen him full of wonder. He’s never seen this cold, unimpressed look that makes Yukhei look years older than he is.

He’s never seen the desperation that makes them all look older than they are.

‘They shouldn’t be out here,’ Yukhei says, voice like ice. ‘They should be in the hospital wing.’

 

 

Madam Piett, the young mediwitch, has been casting cooling spells for the last half hour at least. The fear in his throat has Donghyuck’s reaching for his wand time and time again, even though there’s no visible opponent for him to fight.

Mark, Yeri and Yukhei have all moved their tables closer together. Rather than have the three tables dotted around the arena, they’ve created a large line that arcs through the middle of the room. Occasionally they look to the victims, careful glances to ensure that they’re okay, but for the most part the three of them are bent over in discussion.

Donghyuck’s relieved, although he hates to say it.

There’s no way that Mark would have been able to do this on his own. Maybe Yeri and Yukhei would have, Donghyuck doesn’t know enough of them as students to do so, but Mark would have been left to flounder on his own if they hadn’t gotten together to work though the spells.

‘Jaemin’s turning redder,’ Renjun murmurs. Donghyuck’s eyes drift back to where Jaemin’s soothing a fifth year, despite the sweat that’s falling down his face. He’s avoiding looking at them now, more focused on the kids around him. Sometimes Donghyuck forgets that Jaemin’s actually a good person, behind all the banter and teasing they send at each other.

‘Just wait, they’ll be fine and you’ll be able to go out on a date with your boyfriend in a few hours,’ Donghyuck cracks a joke that falls stale between them.

Jeno’s hand pauses where it rubs at Renjun’s shoulders for a moment before it begins. Donghyuck holds back a wince, looking at him out of the corner of his eyes, because that was probably not the way he should have phrased his joke.

Jeno shakes his head, a slight movement to say _not now_ before there’s an explosion on the stage.

Mark and Yukhei dispel the potion that failed, a combination of an air cleansing charm and a vanishing spell. Yeri’s already starting on the next attempt, pulling out a cauldron from under the table and pouring something into it.

‘Too much burdock,’ Yukhei’s voice can be heard over the chatter of the students. They’ve turned the amplification spell down, but it’s still there, enough to give the observers an idea of what the champions are doing. ‘We should probably use rosemary instead?’

Mark’s nodding, gathering the ingredients together as they pour over the results from their previous three attempts. Time’s running out and everyone’s starting to feel the weight of the countdown as it ticks away.

‘At least the organiser should have an antidote, right?’ a student hisses from two rows ahead of them. It’s probably one of those kids who likes to look at Donghyuck and joke about him being the next Dark Lord, but their voice is quiet and scared and Donghyuck finds himself hoping they’re right.

‘It’s going to be fine,’ Renjun’s voice is fierce as he looks at Jaemin. Donghyuck thinks he hasn’t looked away since the start of the task, despite the movement that’s going around them. ‘It’s going to be fine, _right_?’

‘I’m sure it will be, Injunnie,’ Jeno says, still half-wrapped around the boy. ‘They can’t let any of them _die_.’

‘But they can poison them,’ Renjun finishes, the words hanging bitter between the three of them.

‘Mark, Yukhei and Yeri are the champions for a reason,’ Donghyuck says, and it would almost be inspiring. ‘They wouldn’t be up there if they weren’t capable of putting together an antidote.’

His fingers are itching to join them down there, to help, but he can only watch uselessly from the side as Yeri starts to pour in the base of the potion they’d decided on earlier in the task. It’s a viscous, midnight blue potion, the opposite of the light, sparkling poison that still sits in its vial.

Donghyuck has decent hopes for it.

He, Jeno and Renjun haven’t started the poisons unit of their NEWTs course, but they’ve learnt enough over the years to understand about the duality of magic. The three champions are working through synthesising the potion in a textbook manner, learning what they can from the poison and inverting it for their antidote. Three hours is hardly enough to synthesise the perfect antidote, but Donghyuck doubts that’s the point of the task.

They’re getting judged on this, by the heads of the schools, and he suspects it’s about the deductions and the inferences and the skill. Why it has to be balanced on people’s lives, Donghyuck doesn’t understand, and he resents it at the very base of his chest. He can only hope that Professor Bae didn’t have anything to do with the planning.

‘It can’t be long now,’ Renjun mutters. His eyes drift up to the timer, they’ve got an hour and a half left to make the final potion. ‘It’ll be fine.’

 

 

‘It’s done,’ Yukhei says, and he lets out a sigh as he pushes his long hair out of his face. There’s a tremble of relief that works through him, a release of the tension that Donghyuck hadn’t noticed until it was gone.

The potion in front of him is bubbling away, a dark blue that almost sucks in the light around it. Donghyuck’s watched every ingredient and every spell that’s been placed in the cauldron since the start of the potion. The knowledge that this is _it_ , the end of the mess that’s hanging over all of them, is a relief that sweeps through the entire room.

‘Wait!’ Mark’s voice is loud and crisp, raised despite the amplification spell. He walks over to where Yukhei’s bent over their final cauldron. ‘I don’t think it is?’

‘What’s he doing?’ Donghyuck asks, and he leans forward in his seat. ‘Mark, you’ve only got _ten minutes_ left?’

His voice is loud, enough that a couple of students turning to look at him before realising who is speaking. There’s the typical sneer and taunt that Donghyuck ignores, knowing that they’re doing this just because they can, because there’s no fear underlying their every thought.

‘Explain,’ Yeri says, her arms crossed in front of her as she looks to the spell.

Yukhei is torn, his eyes drifting from the potion to _Donghyuck’s_. He looks at Donghyuck and it takes a moment for him to realise that what the Durmstrang student wants is reassurance from him.

(Does he have a friend in this room? Donghyuck’s never thought to ask.)

‘We’re missing something, I’m sure of it,’ Mark says, and he’s flicking through his notes from when he interviewed the students again.

Donghyuck’s fingers tap out a quick beat against his thighs. The last few minutes of the timer are ticking down, and they can’t afford to let Mark take up more time than he already has, but Yeri stands there, patient.

Yukhei still hasn’t moved from looking at Donghyuck.

‘I trust you,’ he mouths, and Yukhei exhales so visibly that Donghyuck just wants to run down and wrap the boy in his arms. The last three hours have been stressful for them, sitting on the sides and clinging to each other but Donghyuck has no idea what the champions must be feeling.

‘ _Mark_ ,’ Yeri says, and her voice is harsh through the silence. ‘What are we missing?’

‘I’m checking,’ he says, and his fingers are flying over parchment, mouthing words to himself. ‘I think we need to add hyacinth?’

‘Why?’ Yukhei’s turned back to Mark, and he’s not defensive but there’s a tick to his jaw and a tightness to his voice. Their time is running out.

Mark looks up, pulling off his glasses and wiping them. ‘They all had orange juice for breakfast, it’s acidic.’

‘That’s all I needed to know,’ Yeri says and she’s crushing the petals with a wave of her wand. It’s not going to be as fine as doing it by hand, but she doesn’t have time, and she tosses them in to the potion.

Yukhei doesn’t move, so she pushes him to the side with a careful elbow before she finishes the potion. The final result is bottled and she presses one into his hand before giving one to Mark.

‘We’re done,’ Mark says.

Claudine rises from her seat, steps smooth against the uneven stones as she inspects the cauldron. There’s a silence that hangs over the entire room, no murmurs, no coughing, just the shared stillness of people waiting for the response of the organiser.

‘Mr Na,’ Claudine turns and she gestures to Jaemin. ‘Would you like to try the antidote first?’

Jaemin lets out a wet laugh and he looks up from his seat. ‘You’re mistaking me for a Gryffindor.’

It’s so, _so_ Jaemin that Donghyuck can’t help the huff of laughter that works through him. Jaemin’s smiling, which is good enough for him, and Claudine moves to the next student who does take her up on the offer.

They swallow down a vial of the potion, and there’s a moment.

A long moment.

‘Is it?’ Renjun asks and that’s all he gets out before the kid starts coughing, loud and dry. Madam Piett rushes over to support them, but she doesn’t look worried. Her wand moves on those same, calculated moves that Yukhei’s did earlier in the day and she nods once.

Relief courses throughout the room.

Donghyuck doesn’t wait, doesn’t care that the task technically isn’t even over thanks to the scoring that they’re waiting for. He’s rushing down the sides, with Jeno and Renjun on his heels, and he pushes past the edge of the arena to where the champions and the victims stand.

Renjun’s flown over to Jaemin immediately, taking the vial to slowly help the boy drink it. Jeno’s holding up an exhausted Mark, who looks a second away from collapsing now that the work is all done. But Donghyuck walks over to where Yukhei’s still standing by the cauldron.

He flicks the flame off, the bubbling of the potion stopping now that it’s complete.

‘You did it,’ he murmurs, and his hands rise to frame Yukhei’s cheeks and smooth out the lines of tension that have formed. ‘It’s over.’

Yukhei inhales, once, and then he’s tipping forward.

Donghyuck has to rise up on his toes a little bit, and Yukhei’s probably bent into an awkward position, but his head rests in Donghyuck’s shoulder as he sucks in something that sounds suspiciously like a sob.

‘It’s over,’ Donghyuck repeats, and he looks at a pale, but smiling Jaemin. He looks Renjun, who still hasn’t let go of Jaemin’s hand or stopped glaring at Claudine. ‘You did it.’

‘I…’ Yukhei’s voice cracks a little bit, ‘ _hated_ that.’

‘I don’t think you’re supposed to love it,’ Donghyuck says with a laugh. The vice that’s been clenched around all of them has finally been released, and each word doesn’t feel like a careful attempt not to break each other.

‘Congratulations, Champions,’ Claudine says, and her smile is thin but wide as she looks at the three people in front of her. ‘You have all successfully completed your first task.’

Yukhei pulls away from Donghyuck to look at her, but his hands don’t leave Donghyuck’s sides as Claudine spells away the tables.

‘We are pleased to announce that the scores have been calculated,’ she says with a smile. ‘First place goes to Mr Lucas Wong,’ she says and Yukhei stiffens next to Donghyuck, ‘who received thirty-two points out of forty.’ There’s a polite smattering of applause, and Donghyuck squeezes his hand with a small smile. ‘Second place goes to Mr Mark Lee, with twenty-nine points out of forty.’ A louder cheer this time, and Mark gives a sort of awkward half bow from where he’s standing with Jeno.

Donghyuck gives him a small thumbs up.

‘And finally, Miss Yerim Kim came third with twenty-eight points.’

‘That’s bullshit,’ Yukhei mutters, only heard by Donghyuck. ‘There’s no way Yeri only got twenty-eight points.’

‘I have to say, Mr Lee,’ Claudine adds as she begins to walk away from the crowd of students. ‘Your adjustment was well thought out, if you hadn’t sought to make the antidote more alkaline, your classmates might have died on the spot.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [twt](http://twitter.com/neocitz) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/neocitz)


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry about the delay guys!
> 
> un-beta'd

Donghyuck doesn’t like Arithmancy on a good day, but it’s made worse with the empty seat next to him. Instead of being able to work through the problem set, decoding the crossover between magic and logic, Donghyuck’s fingers tap at the table as he waits for the hour to drag by.

Normally, Donghyuck sits with Jaemin at the back of the classroom. They’re not perfect students, but they keep their heads down throughout the duration of the class. It’s not until Donghyuck’s alone in the classroom that he realises how much he’s relied on Jaemin’s company in the empty room.          

He’s supposed to be taking notes for Jaemin, but Donghyuck finds his eyes drawn to the window. It’s quieter, _easier,_ to let his mind drift away _._ He doesn’t have to look at the other sixth years who whisper, the ones who lean into each other with their little smirks.

‘Mr Lee,’ Professor Kim’s voice is sharp and cuts through Donghyuck’s vague daydreaming. ‘I hope that you are paying appropriate attention to the coursework.’

‘Yes, professor,’ Donghyuck mutters, eyes fixing back on the parchment in front of him. The numbers are a blur, and when he looks up again, a kid three rows ahead turns around too quick and too sharp.

 

 

Silence hangs between Donghyuck, Renjun and Jeno as they make their way through the school, heavy and strong against the three of them. Donghyuck only has two classes with Jaemin, but he’s so used to his best friend hanging off him between classes and he has no doubt that Jeno and Renjun feel that doubly so.

‘I hate this,’ he says glumly, pulling his bag into his side as they make their way across the castle. ‘I thought I’d like the quiet but it’s _awful_.’

‘It’s only for a few more days,’ Jeno says, pulling the words out with as much forced optimism as Donghyuck’s ever heard. ‘Piett says that they’d be allowed out of the Hospital Wing by the weekend.’

‘We’re still not allowed to visit, are we?’ Donghyuck attempted to, the night of the task, but with the number of victims Madam Piett had decided to cut off visitor. It was fair enough, in Donghyuck’s opinion, there was only one mediwitch and too many visitors in the small room. But that doesn’t stop him from being frustrated over the whole thing.

‘I still can’t believe they did something as stupid as _poisoning students_.’ Renjun’s voice still shakes with the anger of the task three days before. Jeno’s hand reaches out to settle on Renjun’s shoulder for a moment, but its barely a brush in the abandoned corridor of the castle.

Donghyuck’s lips press together. Renjun’s anger has stewed and stewed, separated from Jaemin and the levity that he brings to their friendship group. Jeno’s has left him quiet and sullen.

It stretches between them, wanting for that final piece of the puzzle to set their little group of four back into harmony.

‘How’s Mark holding up?’ he asks instead.

Jeno’s lips pull up at the corner, smile not reaching his eyes but appreciative as he turns to Donghyuck. It’s not enough to break the tension that holds Renjun’s entire body taught like a string, but he turns to look at Jeno.

‘He’s all right, a little bit shaken about the task,’ Jeno admits. ‘We should probably sit with him at lunch or something before he angsts himself into not eating or something.’

‘Mark Lee, _the Mark Lee_ , needing company?’ Donghyuck scoffs. ‘He’s Mr Popularity, honorary Head Boy even. I’m sure he’s going to be fine without us.’

‘Hyuck,’ Jeno sighs.

It’s all he needs to say for the guilt to wash over Donghyuck.

‘Fine, but he’s coming with us to the kitchens. I’m not sitting in the Great Hall.’ Donghyuck knows it’s not the most unreasonable of requests, but it does earn him a raised eyebrow from Jeno and Renjun _actually_ lets out a snort of laughter at his actions. ‘I’m _not._ ’

‘You can’t keep eating in the kitchens,’ Renjun tsks, ‘and you can’t make us take the long route to class every day.’

He sweeps his arms around, to the dusty and dark corridors that Donghyuck’s come to know like the back of his hands. Each trip is longer than the last, but Donghyuck revels in knowing that it is just him and his friends when he wanders around the school.

‘We get more exercise this way,’ Donghyuck protests. ‘You _love_ it, both of you.’

‘We really, really don’t,’ Renjun says. ‘My calves are stronger than they’ve _ever_ been because of all the stairs you’re dragging us up and down.’ He’s forcing the smile, the joke into his voice, and Donghyuck almost appreciates it.

‘I’m sure they’re going to be nicer than they’ve ever been, aren’t they Jeno?’

Jeno starts.

‘Yeah,’ he murmurs, not an iota of that same lightness in his voice. It breaks Renjun’s attempt to joke, his smile dropping back down into that frown. Donghyuck wants to reach out, smooth that line of frustration between his brow, but his fingers curl around the straps of his bag and silence falls between them again.

 

 

Donghyuck doesn’t realise that he’s actually _missing_ Yukhei until the boy throws himself down onto the bench next to him. In the post-task celebrations, the Durmstrang students had whisked him away whilst Donghyuck stood with Mark as students clapped him on the back. He’s glad for Mark’s success, but he looks at Yukhei with his large eyes and his flopping hair and something in his chest loosens.

‘Something’s wrong,’ Yukhei says, not even bothering with the greetings that usual oscillate between shy and bright. ‘Don’t try to pretend you’re not.’  

Donghyuck forces something close to one on his face, but Yukhei’s expression doesn’t change. Instead, he leans closer and his large hand cups Donghyuck’s face for just a moment before dropping away. Donghyuck catches it, squeezing Yukhei’s hand because he’s trying to tell the other boy _something_. He doesn’t know what,

‘You’ve been watching me.’ It’s supposed to come out teasing, but instead he’s flat and tired and Donghyuck winces.

‘I have,’ Yukhei nods. If it were any other time, Donghyuck would be raising an eyebrow, biting something in fake anger at the boy just because it makes Yukhei laugh. ‘You’re tired, and hiding from everyone.’

‘I am not,’ Donghyuck mutters, but he’s not looking at Yukhei and he can _feel_ the judgement from the seventh year. ‘I’m just trying to get my homework done, it’s an important year.’

‘You don’t have any homework,’ Yukhei looks pointedly at the pile of books next to Donghyuck. None of them are for the classes he’s studying, a couple of muggle novels that he liked the look of and Jeno’s Herbology textbook that he kept losing.

‘I could be using these,’ Donghyuck says, tugging the Herbology textbook out from the bottom of the pile.

‘Hey,’ Yukhei nudges Donghyuck, elbow into the side just soft enough to draw Donghyuck’s gaze back at him again. ‘It’s okay.’

Donghyuck can only look at Yukhei for a few minutes, before he turns away to gaze at the rest of the study room around him. It’s one of the less popular ones, in a drafty corner of the castle with flickering lights. He’s not alone here, but the students who venture to this room are quiet and keep to themselves and it makes it feel like the only person who fills the room is Yukhei with his kind eyes and his smile.

He is, Donghyuck realises, _quiet_ , in this moment. He leans into the space between them, and it’s probably a lot for Yukhei to contain his natural exuberance and brightness in the silence of the room.  But looking at him, Yukhei is calm and relaxed and something about it makes Donghyuck’s heart lurch in his chest.

Donghyuck can’t help but steal a glance, to Seungmin in the corner of the room and Mina bent over her textbooks. They’re good people, comparatively, but Donghyuck still can’t help gathering everything up and ducking out of the room.

‘Did,’ Yukhei stumbles after him, ‘did I say something wrong?’

The hallway is empty and forgotten. It’s the pair of them, and Donghyuck feels everything start to slip out of him in a slow, deep exhale the further they get away from the classroom. ‘Is it really that obvious?’

Yukhei’s eyes are firm, and perhaps Donghyuck can’t help the guilt that courses through him so he reaches out to grab Yukhei’s hand again. The older boy sighs, pulling them to a stop. Donghyuck can’t help looking at him, waiting for whatever it is that makes Yukhei so quiet in this space between them. ‘I haven’t seen you smile in _days._ ’

‘That’s not true.’ Donghyuck’s voice fades, because he can’t lie about this. He’s boxed in by Yukhei, and it blocks out the rest of the world in a way that stripes the calloused edges from Donghyuck’s smile. ‘I didn’t think it was obvious.’

‘You’re easier to read than you think.’ The words hang in the air between them, a statement that almost edges into something more. It shouldn’t be a truth, because almost no-one beyond the small group of people Donghyuck surrounds himself with can read him. But Yukhei’s words are heavy and there isn’t a touch of lies to his words. ‘Do you want me to give you some space?’

Donghyuck breathes, a deep inhale, before looking up at Yukhei. ‘No,’ he shakes his head. ‘I promised that I wouldn’t run away from you and I did, didn’t I?’

‘You did, a little bit,’ Yukhei laughs, and it’s still not loud but it fills the corridor and Donghyuck’s chest. He didn’t realise how much he needed to hear the laugh, not until the last vestiges of it fade away but his heart is calmer than its been all week. ‘You free tonight?’

Donghyuck looks up, ‘Why?’

 

 

The sun’s long since dipped behind the mountains surrounding Hogwarts. Donghyuck almost wishes he was still insider but Yukhei wanted to meet him. He’s got his thicker set of robes pulled over his clothes, his heating spells having had faded away and his wandwork too harsh to refresh them.

Donghyuck sits on the front step, arms looped around his knees, as he watches the ship that bobs on the edge of the lake. It doesn’t take Yukhei long to come out, jogging in the dim light to meet Donghyuck. He’s wearing a jumper, too thin against the brisk air that drops in temperature with every passing minute.

‘You’re going to freeze,’ Donghyuck says, rising up with a sigh when Yukhei finally reaches him.

‘You’re going to overheat.’ Yukhei grins, holding a hand out for Donghyuck to take. After a moment’s hesitation, Donghyuck takes it and lets Yukhei lead him across the grounds of the castle. It’s a path that he doesn’t do any more, but Donghyuck knows it like the back of his hand.

‘Why are we going to the greenhouses?’

‘Because your Professor Im said I was allowed to,’ Yukhei grins over his shoulder. ‘I’ve got a final project for my NEWTs that I need to prune at night.’

‘And he just let you in?’ Donghyuck asks, raising an eyebrow as Yukhei taps his wand against the door of the fifth greenhouse. ‘Not even Renjun can get access and he’s been trying for two years.’

Though, looking back, it would make sense if Professor Im was still a little bit worried about the time Renjun had tackled Jaemin to the floor in Third Year.

‘I’m _that special_ ,’ Yukhei laughs, gesturing Donghyuck through the open door. ‘Renjun should make those connections I’ve got.’

Donghyuck curses, and Yukhei’s laughter only grows, as he shrugs himself out of the robes. The greenhouses have been adjusted to suit the plants, a warm humidity higher than anything Donghyuck has felt in months. It’s almost a rainforest, and Donghyuck is woefully overdressed even without his robes hanging over his shoulders.

‘I thought I could bring it back to our first date,’ Yukhei says, turning to grin at Donghyuck as he backs his way through the greenhouse. He’s stripped out of his jumper, a too-large t-shirt making him seem younger and smaller in the dim light of the greenhouse, and Donghyuck’s breath catches for a moment.

‘It would smell far worse, if it were that.’ Donghyuck ducks under trailing leaves, following Yukhei as the seventh year’s fingers trail over twitching, swaying plants.

‘Is that you acknowledging it was a date?’

Donghyuck only hums, mainly to tease but it makes Yukhei snort out his laughter. It’s not small, but fills the space of the entire greenhouse and Donghyuck secretly loves it. ‘Maybe I am. Maybe I’m not.’

They are, he realises, alone in a way that they’ve not managed to be in such a long time. There are no students around the corner, no whispers brushing the back of his neck, no reminder that they’re trapped in a school with a few hundred students.  The greenhouse consists of them and them alone.

Donghyuck doesn’t realise that his smile’s fallen from his face again, Yukhei turns to look at him.  ‘Come here.’ Yukhei holds his arms open, and it takes barely a moment for Donghyuck to bury himself into Yukhei’s hold. ‘You need a proper cuddle.’

‘I’m only letting you do this because I know that you’re going to be filthy later,’ Donghyuck lies through his teeth. He’s one for affection, loves to hang off Jeno and Mark and squish Renjun and press close into a smiling Jaemin. But once they step onto the grounds of Hogwarts, Donghyuck presses it down and saves it for the privacy of their dormitory. ‘I’m not a hugger.’

‘I find that hard to believe,’ Yukhei says into Donghyuck’s hair. They’re probably too close in the humidity of the room, but it’s comfortable enough that Donghyuck has to hide his smile away because it’s pulling at his cheeks too broad and bright. ‘Come on.’

He pulls away, reaching down to take Donghyuck by the hand. He definitely doesn’t need to, not in the cultivated lines of the greenhouse. But Donghyuck appreciates the way it grounds him to the older boy in front of him. And if he squeezes Yukhei’s hand that little bit, the older boy doesn’t comment on it.

Yukhei stops in front of table, covered in dirt and a sprawling plant that uncurls when the pair of them approach. It’s floral, Donghyuck can’t really place more than that with his expert knowledge of magical flora. It’s only when Yukhei reaches out to brush the back of his hand against the leaves that it uncurls with a melodious ring.

‘We don’t get these back home,’ Yukhei says, turning back to Donghyuck with his eyes alight and his voice echoing. ‘The soil isn’t the same, and when they do grow they’re always sad.’

‘So growing happy musical flowers are for your Herbology unit?’ Donghyuck asks, reaching out for just a moment to brushing his fingers against the petals. The bell tone echoes around the room, and something in Donghyuck’s chest loosens a little bit at the sound.

‘Potions, actually,’ Yukhei says, curling his hand under the flower to expose the leaves and stalks curling out of the pot. Donghyuck hesitates for a moment, before jumping up on the workbench to give Yukhei  a bit more space. ‘I’m working on calming draughts at the moment, and seeing the influence of a harmony rose on the potion as opposed to a regular rose.’

‘That’s,’ Donghyuck pauses, because of all the things that he expected _this_ was not it, ‘really cool?’

‘Yeah, I want to work in healing. I thought this would be a good place to start,’ Yukhei’s normal exuberance is reduced to the brightest smile Donghyuck’s seen in a while, marred only by the crease in Yukhei’s forehead as he tries to prune the plant in front of him.

‘Healing,’ Donghyuck nods. ‘That’s pretty cool. My cousin used to work in that. He trained at Mungo’s for a while. I suppose you’d train at a hospital in Norway?’

‘Or Sweden,’ Yukhei nods. ‘The training program in Sweden’s better but Norway’s where my mum and dad are.’

‘Mungo’s is still the best though,’ Donghyuck jokes, smiling up at Yukhei. ‘And I’m in London, most of the time.’

Yukhei laughs, ‘Yes. Yes, you are.’

 

 

‘How did the first task go?’ Johnny asks, arms stretched to the roof as he and Donghyuck being their training session. ‘That would have just happened, right?’

‘Last Sunday,’ Donghyuck says, twisting his wand between his fingers. During the week, Donghyuck spends his time with his wandwork so carefully watched by students and teachers. It’s only in the freedom of the duelling halls that Donghyuck can really let the magic spark off his fingers. ‘It wasn’t too bad, I guess. They did what they were supposed to.’

‘Was it difficult? I remembered it being difficult when I entered.’ Johnny rolls his shoulders in a way that almost convinces Donghyuck that he’s trying to show off to Taeyong. Except Taeyong hasn’t looked up from his book since Donghyuck and Johnny headed towards the small circle they’re restricted to. ‘When we went to Beauxbatons for—’

‘Donghyuck doesn’t want to listen to you reminisce about the good old days.’ Taeyong’s voice is soft but sharp. When Donghyuck looks over, his cousin’s face is buried in his textbook but there’s a little lift of his lips that betrays how amused he is with his best friend’s words.

‘It’s an exciting story,’ Johnny protests, something similar to a pout starting to grow across his face. ‘I was a really good Hogwarts Champion!’

‘Yes, you were.’ Taeyong closes his textbook, standing up to walk over to where Johnny and Donghyuck are standing. ‘But Donghyuck is here to learn, not listen to you talk about all your greatest achievements. One would think that you were a _Gryffindor_.’

‘There’s nothing wrong with that,’ Johnny protests, even as Taeyong and Donghyuck exchange heavy, pointed glances. It’s really only to rile Johnny up further, and Donghyuck can’t help the small smile that pulls at his lips as their little charade works. ‘Gryffindor’s a great house and I would have liked it there.’

‘Sure, you would have loved it,’ Taeyong says, voice dry as he reaches up to correct Donghyuck’s stance and hold of his wand. ‘Just like you would have enjoyed it in Slytherin and Ravenclaw as well. But _Gryffindor_ , really?’

Donghyuck rolls his wrists, feeling the position Taeyong’s guided him into and let out a small sound of surprise.  For someone who hasn’t been able to cast a spell in three years, Taeyong’s innate knowledge of magic always amazes him.

‘Continue your story, Donghyuck,’ Taeyong smiles in that terrifying smile of his. Even without magic, Taeyong’s as terrifying and powerful as he’s ever been. ‘How was the task?’

‘It was terrifying,’ Donghyuck says, blocking through the combination that Johnny’s been teaching him for the past few weeks. His arm sweeps up as he steps forward, wand spinning in his grip. ‘I’ve never seen something so high pressure and dangerous before, people were genuinely going to die from it.’

‘It’s difficult, and still archaic at its very core,’ Taeyong mutters. ‘One of the kids from our year got permanently scarred from an incident involving a beasts summoning. I hope nothing permanent happened with yours?’

‘No. A couple of students are still in the hospital wing, but they’re already on their way to a full recovery.’ Now that the fear has mostly melted away, it’s almost with detachment that Donghyuck looks back on the task. Jaemin’s on his way to a full recovery and everything is suddenly okay.

(It’s not, and it tears at Donghyuck’s throat but he can’t argue, can’t bring himself to talk about it too much.)

‘Hopefully in time for the Yule Ball,’ Johnny says with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

‘The what?’ Donghyuck falters in his form, falling back into a neutral position. It earns him a sheepish grin from Johnny and a groan from Taeyong.

‘You spoilt it for him!’

‘He would have found out soon anyway,’ Johnny protests. He turns to Donghyuck, more of a softer smile on his face than anything ‘It’s just a dance that they hold between the first two tasks. It’s meant to promote inter-school relations, lighten things up a little bit. It’s a good night, and one that’s needed.’

‘A dance?’ Donghyuck already can feel the revulsion rising up in his stomach. Organised school events are awful enough, but to add in dancing and dresses and the showboating. It sounds exactly like the sort of thing that Donghyuck stays at Hogwarts to avoid. ‘Better or worse than the family ones?’

This question is directed at Taeyong, who lets out a snort of amusement. ‘Better, definitely. No overbearing parents trying to introduce you to everyone, and you can actually have your friends with you. Plus, you don’t need to go if you don’t want to.’

‘Taeyong didn’t,’ Johnny grins. ‘Spent the whole night in bed, reading a book.’

‘Sounds nice.’ Donghyuck can’t help the laugh that works through him at the thought of it, curling up in the warmth of his bed with a book and maybe a nice cup of tea. But when he looks up, Johnny’s grin has dropped and there’s something softer and kinder on his face.

‘I’m not asking you to go,’ Johnny says. ‘But I’m asking you not to hide.’

 

 

Yukhei and Donghyuck are sitting in the Great Hall when Jeno walks into the room and drops down opposite him. It’s the first time Donghyuck’s eaten in the Great Hall in what feels like three weeks, and the arrival of his best friend releases a knot of tension that Donghyuck didn’t even realise he had.

‘I’m not disturbing you guys, am I?’ Jeno asks.

‘Nah man, it’s fine.’ Yukhei grins, slapping a hand of Jeno’s shoulder. It’s loud and big and Donghyuck can’t help the brief thought wondering how much Yukhei’s being holding back around him. ‘I saw your practise the other day, killer moves.’

‘Thanks. Do you play?’

Watching them talk, Donghyuck realises that this is the one of the first times he’s ever seen Yukhei around his friends. Intellectually he knows that Mark and Yukhei are friends, that they’re temporarily sharing a dormitory and hang out between classes. But to see one of his best friends talk to this secret, separate part of his life is confusing, and almost scary.

‘Nah, I always wanted to, but I’ve just not got the co-ordination for it,’ Yukhei admits. ‘I love the game. Used to go to all the matches with my friends.’

‘Come watch us sometime,’ Jeno suggests. ‘Make this one watch it as well, he still doesn’t know the difference between a Quaffle and a Bludger.’

Donghyuck rolls his eyes, ‘And you don’t know the difference between a Parry and a Riposte.’

‘No-one knows the difference between that,’ Jeno protests, arms in the air.

‘Parry is a block, Riposte is a counterattack,’ Yukhei says around a bite of a sandwich. He’s speaking while he’s eating which should not be attractive at all, but Donghyuck’s both taken aback and amazed that Yukhei knows it. ‘My best friend’s a duellist. I’ve been to a couple of his duels.’

‘Would I know him?’ Donghyuck leans forward, curious.

‘Yeah,’ there’s a small pink tinge to Yukhei’s cheeks as he looks back at Donghyuck. ‘Jungwoo Kim?’

‘ _Jungwoo?_ ’ Donghyuck’s jaw drops open.

‘Wait, if you’ve been to a couple of his duels then you would have seen Donghyuck duel, right?’ Jeno’s grin’s lifting up into that little tease of a grin, the one that means that Donghyuck’s in trouble.

‘A couple of times,’ Yukhei admits. ‘Mainly last year.’

‘You’ve seen me duel?’

Donghyuck doesn’t know what to say, words lost in his throat at the embarrassed little tilt to Yukhei’s shoulders. The older boy had never mentioned that to him, and he doesn’t know if he’s touched or embarrassed by that fact.

‘You’re really good,’ Yukhei shrugs, ‘and you were so happy even though you didn’t win. I thought it was nice. And Jungwoo said you were really friendly, so I thought that I’d say hi when I met you and then I guess we just… got to where we are.’

‘Damn,’ Jeno whistles, ‘I wish I could see that. Donghyuck hasn’t let us watch a duel since he was in Juniors.’

‘It’s amazing,’ Yukhei says. ‘In general, but Donghyuck’s just really, _really_ good at it.’

It’s not that it’s a lie, but Donghyuck still coughs out a little bit of embarrassment at the praise. People _know_ that he duels, that he’s one of the top duellists in the country, but it’s never acknowledged in the walls of Hogwarts as openly as this.

‘Of course he’s really good at it,’ Jeno laughs, ‘he’s Donghyuck.’  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there be less dragons than anticipated, apologies! 
> 
> [twt](http://twitter.com/neocitz) | [cc](http://curiouscat.me/neocitz)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you to cla and to carly, for looking over this chapter at different points.

Jaemin doesn’t tell any of them when he’s being discharged. They don’t find out until they feel the ripple of his essence against Jeno’s wards as a warning. It’s not the most complex of a ward, just something that Jeno cast as practice, but it casts a muted warm light across their classroom, startling them out of their homework. Donghyuck doesn’t even realise how tight his chest was, until he realises that Jaemin is close.

‘Jaemin!’

Renjun’s the first one up, before Jaemin’s even fully thrown the door open with his bright, _bright_ smile. He doesn’t rush forward, not really, just takes a moment to look at Jaemin standing tall and proud in the doorway of their classroom.

They’d all visited him in the aftermath of the poisoning, seen him pale and shaking as he drank potion after potion to regain his strength. But with the number of students poisoned, they’d not been allowed to see him much over the past week. The last time Donghyuck has seen Jaemin, he’d been gulping down water to combat the fever that ripped through the victims.

‘Did you miss me?’

Jaemin’s the one who strides forward, towards them. He throws an arm around Renjun and pulls him in close. There’s a moment where Renjun’s shoulders, stiff and tight, fall loose and his arms wrap back around Jaemin. There’s a long moment of too much silence, where Jaemin and Renjun are pressed together and Donghyuck’s painfully reminded of how his friends are made for each other.

Donghyuck can’t look because it feels too private for him to interrupt.

Instead he glances at Jeno, who is much more apart of this moment than Donghyuck. But the Hufflepuff’s twisting his wand between his fingers, hanging just that little bit back and he has that adorable little thoughtful expression that most people love. When he notices Donghyuck looking, his lips tilt up slightly and he turns back to Renjun and Jaemin.

 ‘It was quiet for once.’ Renjun draws back, and although his eyes are warm his voice is wicked and as sharp as it ever is. ‘We were better without you, got so much homework done and everything.’

‘Injunnie,’ Jaemin stumbles away from Renjun, smile not having shrunk a bit, ‘I am offended. I’m sure the others missed me, right?’ This time he wraps himself around Jeno. Donghyuck doesn’t miss the way Jeno startles, the way his arm settles around Jaemin as if it belongs there. ‘You missed me, didn’t you, Jeno?’

‘Sure, I did,’ Jeno says. He’s always been more honest than the rest of them, more _earnest_. ‘It’s good to have you up and about. Don’t do anything stupid like that again.’

‘Not like I really had a choice.’ Jaemin transfers his last remaining affection to Donghyuck, the final hug of the three as he leans down to rest his head against Donghyuck’s. ‘I mean, better me than one of the younger kids, at least? And I get an extension on that divination assignment I’ve been putting off for weeks.’

‘It always amazes me how you leave that to the last minute, when you can literally just make it up the moment it’s assigned,’ Donghyuck tsks as he and Jaemin make their way over to their makeshift desks. Jaemin throws himself down onto his beanbag, patting the ones on either side of him for Donghyuck and Renjun to drop down into.

‘And that’s why you failed divination in third year.’ Jaemin laughs, pulling Renjun in a bit closer. He’s being touchier than usual, Donghyuck realises, and allows Jaemin to hold his hand as they adjust where they’re sitting. ‘It’s not something that you can make up.’

‘If you say so,’ Donghyuck rolls his eyes, ‘I still think it’s mooncalf shit.’

‘Donghyuck,’ Renjun says, and there’s a warning on his tongue that has Donghyuck sighing and almost apologising to Jaemin. Almost, because he doesn’t apologise to his friend out of principal. ‘Let Jaemin do his pseudo-magic without being a dick.’

His lips lift up in the corners.

‘It’s not pseudo-magic!’ Jaemin splutters, pulling away from Renjun to glare at the older boy. Jeno barks out a laugh, ducking out of the way as Jaemin summons a pillow to hit Renjun with. It is, Donghyuck thinks, the closest that they all get to normal, and he loves it.

 

 

Between classes and duels and the ‘excitement’ of the Triwizard Tournament, Yule’s almost upon them. Donghyuck doesn’t even realise until he looks out and realises most of the daylight slipped away when they were in their classes. Even the promise of a _lumos_ and some warming spells aren’t enough to tempt most students out past twilight and Donghyuck is one of said students.

Unfortunately for Donghyuck, he’s not one of those lucky people who get to curl up in the warmth of the common room and let the nights slip by. Because, for reasons he can’t really comprehend, most of his friends are _jocks_.

‘Do I have to come with you?’ Donghyuck whines, following Jeno down through the dying light towards the Quidditch Pitch. ‘Can’t I stay inside?’

‘With the others?’ Jeno raises an eyebrow as he looks up at Donghyuck and Donghyuck pauses where he stands.

He supposes Jeno’s right. It hasn’t been obvious, but Renjun’s been that bit more careful around Jaemin, more willing to pander to his whims and accept the loose affection that Jaemin dispenses. The two of them have been attached at the hip, more so than usual, since Jaemin returned from the hospital wing.

‘They’re not that bad,’ he says, even though Jeno can read him like a book and can hear the lie on his tongue.

‘Sure,’ Jeno snorts and rolls his eyes. He looks out across the stretching grounds of Hogwarts, his brow lowered into something that might be considered a frown. It’s beautiful, picturesque and doesn’t suit him all that well. Donghyuck is struck with the sudden realisation that he can’t remember the last time Jeno _smiled_. At least properly.

Jeno is a boy of easy smiles and laughter, had been since they were five years old and Donghyuck found him giggling at a dinner that was too formal for two children to be attending. His eyes always curved up into a bright smile, one that won over the witches and wizards with more sickles than sense, and Donghyuck hadn’t seen it in what felt like forever.

‘Fine, I’ll come with you. But I’m only doing this because it’s you,’ Donghyuck warns, huddling closer into Jeno’s warmth. ‘Nothing else would tempt me away from the loveliness of the Slytherin commons for _Quidditch_ of all things.’

‘This,’ Jeno’s arm loops around Donghyuck’s shoulders, pulling him in that bit closer, ‘is why you’re my favourite.’

Donghyuck looks up, and Jeno’s got a softness to him that isn’t yet the smile that Donghyuck wants. It’s close enough, Donghyuck hopes.

‘Why are we even doing this? It’s way too late to be playing Quidditch, I don’t even fly.’ Donghyuck doesn’t stop whining, but he makes it playful just to draw a laugh out of Jeno. Just to try and perhaps spoil Jeno for once.

‘Because it’s the only time all of us are free to do it.’

‘All of us?’

Jeno sighs, pulling away to look down at Donghyuck with a shake of his head. ‘All of us, you know? Me, you, Mark… Yukhei, _your boyfriend?_ I swear you were there when we planned this. _’_

Donghyuck stumbles.

‘My _what_?’

Jeno isn’t normally one to judge in their friendship group. He’ll laugh, and he’ll banter and he’ll sigh, but he’s always been the one you could go to, the one who listen to every word and let you say your piece. There was a reason he was never going to be anything but a Hufflepuff.

He’s judging Donghyuck now.

‘So, you’re saying that Yukhei’s _not_ your boyfriend?’

‘We’re just friends,’ Donghyuck mumbles because he can’t keep Jeno’s gaze even for a few seconds, not now.  

‘Liar.’

When Donghyuck looks up, Jeno’s smiling at him. Not that joyful one that Donghyuck wants, craves to see after this inbetweeness that’s haunted them since the first task, but one that is true and kind.

‘You’re allowed to like him, you know,’ Jeno says, and his words are careful as he says them. Donghyuck doesn’t like his friends being delicate around him, like he’s some sort of spell that’s about to ignite or like he’s about to burst into tears. But there’s a stillness around them, walking down to the Quidditch Pitch in the dusk of winter, and the words seem to settle into the air around them. ‘You don’t need to pretend.’

‘Am I though? Allowed to?’

Jeno looks surprised, eyes widening at the softness of Donghyuck’s voice.

‘Of course. He’s nice, and funny, and makes you happy and you’re allowed to want that. You’re allowed to _take_ it.’

The Quidditch Pitch is close, but Jeno pulls them to a stop. The wind bites at Donghyuck’s cheeks, and he pulls his cloak tighter around him as he looks up at Jeno’s eyes. They’re serious and kind, and Donghyuck realises with a sort of certainty that somewhere along the line, Jeno had grown up.

They all had.

‘Be honest,’ Jeno says. ‘What do you think of Yukhei?’

‘I mean, he’s a good person and he’s funny…’

‘ _Slytherins_ ,’ Jeno sighs, and Donghyuck would be offended, if not for the fact that the word held so much weight and irritation in Jeno’s voice. ‘Not any of your bullshit, with the half-truths and the evasiveness. Tell me, properly.’

He’s spent too much time around the three of them, able to pick through everything that makes a Slytherin _Slytherin_. There’s exhaustion and frustration and love in his gaze, and Donghyuck’s not sure if he’s scared or grateful to have Jeno in his life.

‘He’s,’ Donghyuck tips his head back to look at the dim light that still illuminates the sky, looks up at the stars that begin to peek through as the world dips into darkness, ‘ _unbelievable_. Like how does someone like him fucking _exist_? Remember when we first saw him, and he was just so loud?’

‘And you wanted to curse him?’

‘Just a little bit,’ Donghyuck lets himself smile at that, ‘but I thought… No-one should be that happy, that loud, you know? There has to be _something_ that he’s hiding, there has to be a lie somewhere.’

‘But there’s not?’ Jeno asks, and Donghyuck can only hum out his agreement. ‘You know the kids in this school are _arseholes._ That doesn’t mean everyone’s going to be.’

‘He’s so genuine, and doesn’t judge people and is _kind_.’ Donghyuck still can’t believe that someone like Yukhei exists, without ill-intent and a streak of meanness that he’s so used to. ‘I really like him, Jeno.’

Jeno curls around Donghyuck, arms wrapping around him from behind as he rests his chin on Donghyuck’s shoulder. It’s a moment of silence, and sweetness, between them and perhaps Donghyuck is glad that it’s just the pair of them. There’s something inherently _good_ about Jeno, something that never settled into Renjun, Donghyuck and Jaemin the way that it settled into him. As much as he loves his other friends, Donghyuck knows that no-one would dare to push him like Jeno is now, and no-one would get those same words to break out of him.

‘Then like him,’ Jeno says. ‘ _Let_ yourself like him, Donghyuck. Stop hiding, stop letting the rest of the school control your damn life.’

 

 

The biting cold of the winter air melts away as they cross the Quidditch Pitch, replaced with the environmental spells that span the wide space. Donghyuck hears Mark and Yukhei before he sees them, laughter cracking loud and bright through the stillness of dusk. He doesn’t need to look to know that Jeno’s got that all knowing smirk of his on his face, and pokes his tongue out at his best friend.

Mark’s slapping Yukhei’s arm with the sort of loud expressiveness that had faded away in the height of NEWT stress. Yukhei, Donghyuck realises with a small exhale, brightens so much around him in the most natural of ways. Jeno’s words bounce around in Donghyuck’s head, and for the first time he lets himself toy with _boyfriend_ , lets himself acknowledge how much space Yukhei takes in his life.

‘Dude.’ Mark wheezes through the words, using Yukhei to hold himself up. ‘I can’t believe that actually happened.’

‘It did, _swear to Circe._ ’ Yukhei’s voice is a high-pitched screech of amusement, and Donghyuck hates that in that moment he’s so endeared by the sound. ‘I’ve not been allowed to play Quidditch since.’

‘At least you can fly, even if you’re not that good at playing. Donghyuck hasn’t touched a broom in years,’ Jeno snorts, fist-bumping Mark and Yukhei as they finally reach the two older boys in the middle of the field.  

‘You can’t fly?’ Yukhei asks, turning away from Mark to look at Donghyuck. It’s not a cruel comment, like people can be, but genuine curiosity.

Donghyuck’s cheeks burn red, and only just resists elbowing Jeno in the side as a form of thank you for embarrassing him in front of Yukhei. ‘It’s not that I _can’t_ fly, it’s just that flying is super dangerous. I mean, who really trusts the spells that broom companies cast?’

‘Pretty much everyone,’ Jeno bites, even as Mark rolls his eyes at the familiar argument between the pair of them. ‘You’ve never even fallen off a broom.’

‘Doesn’t mean I won’t, one day.’

‘Okay, okay, _okay_.’ Mark steps between them, a familiar flare to his eyes, of fear and frustration and friendship, as he tries to quell the argument between them before it gets too awful. ‘We’re not doing this again. We’re here to have _fun_. If Donghyuck doesn’t want to fly, then he doesn’t have to.’

‘I reckon he should give it a go,’ Jeno says, and there’s a smirk on his lips that spells trouble for Donghyuck. ‘After all, it’s useless for him to come _all_ this way out in the cold and just sit around and do homework again.’

At that, he kicks off on his broom, rising into the air slowly, but steadily. It’s only because he’s on a deathstick that Donghyuck doesn’t shoot a spell at him, his suggestion hanging in the air between the four of them.

‘Think about it, Donghyuck,’ Mark says, gathering up the Quaffle at his feet before kicking off himself. He hovers, just above Donghyuck and Yukhei, resting against the handle of his broom in a relaxed slump. ‘It wouldn’t hurt you to have fun for a little bit.’

‘I’ll have you know that reading my textbooks are plenty fun,’ Donghyuck lies, pulling his bag closer into his side. ‘And useful, seeing as that I need to read them for my NEWTs.’

‘Even I know when to take a break, Donghyuck,’ Mark says. ‘Think about that.’

It’s not until Mark starts to climb, following Jeno’s ascent into the heights of the Quidditch Pitch, that Donghyuck realises that Yukhei’s been watching him silently. The Durmstrang student’s broom is held loosely in hand, as he looks at Donghyuck through his mop of hair.

‘You’re not going to fly?’ he asks. ‘Why’d you come out then?’

‘Because everyone was excited to do this, and I thought I might work on my footwork or something,’ Donghyuck says with a shrug. ‘Can’t really do that in front of the other students.’

‘They get in your way?’

‘That. And sometimes they think I’m going duel them right then and there.’ There’d been the occasional time when Donghyuck would be challenged to duel by a classmate, jokingly or otherwise. But some of the students, especially those who dwelled in the ridiculous rumours that swept through the school, genuinely thought Donghyuck might attack at any moment.

It amazed him, sometimes, just how stupid people could be.

‘Be honest,’ Yukhei asks, with his sweet smile and his judgement-free eyes and his _possibly-boyfriend_ status. ‘Are you here because you need a place to practice, or because you didn’t want to be alone?’

Sometimes, Donghyuck’s taken aback at how Yukhei looks like he belongs in a world beyond that of school, an adult in the way that Mark isn’t. Sometimes Yukhei looks young, with his bright smile and his big eyes and the energy that radiates off him. In this moment, he looks like _more_ , with seriousness and maturity edging into his voice and the purse of his lips,

‘Bit of both,’ Donghyuck says, before he can catch the words and turn them into a lie.

‘Not everyone’s that bad, you know,’ Yukhei says. He keeps the words soft, trying not to turn it into a challenge, but Donghyuck still bristles. He reaches out, a tentative hand on Donghyuck’s shoulder. ‘I know, _I know_ , that you’ve had a shitty experience here and some people are awful. But some of them are nice, and some of them have told me really great things about you.’

‘If you say so.’ Donghyuck exhales, because he is too confused, too on edge to turn this into a fight that itches beneath his skin. The fight feels petty and unwarranted and yet burns from years of resentment and frustration. But it’s not to be had with Yukhei.

‘I know so,’ Yukhei says, and he’s doing his best to soothe the tension that runs through Donghyuck’s body. Large hands run down the length of Donghyuck’s arm, taking his hands and grounding him in the moment. ‘And even if not all of them are, you’ve got Jeno, and Mark, and Johnny and _me_. And we’re what you need.’

He’s right.

Standing there, in the middle of the Quidditch Pitch with Mark and Jeno’s laughter above them, Donghyuck realises it. He can’t help but wonder, how Yukhei with his laughter and his loudness came to fit into the life that he built for himself and why he doesn’t resent Yukhei for it.

‘How are you like this?’ Donghyuck asks, looking up at Yukhei. He can’t help it, the small smile that grows across his face and the laughter that bubbles into his voice.

‘Like what?’

‘You’re just… _such_ a Gryffindor,’ Donghyuck says. His smile is still bright and he tips his head back to look up at the sky. ‘I can’t _believe_ my boyfriend is a Gryffindor.’

And he doesn’t realise how true it is, until he says it. Until he tips his head back down and he looks at Yukhei, with his wide eyes and his mouth half-open in shock and that elated grin that breaks across his face. Until he says the words, and there’s no regret or worry beneath it, just the knowledge that it was the right thing to say.

‘Your boyfriend?’ Yukhei says, and this time he tugs Donghyuck in a little bit closer. He tugs him in and looks down and even though Donghyuck can hear Jeno hollering in the background, he ignores it. Because this is about him and his boy.

‘I mean,’ Donghyuck’s fingers curl tighter around Yukhei’s, ‘would you disagree?’

‘Nope,’ Yukhei’s grin is large, pulling at his cheeks and it’s so beautiful that Donghyuck can’t help tugging him down.

He can’t help bringing him closer and shocking that grin off his face with a kiss, can’t help winding his arms around Yukhei’s neck because this is the place that he wants to be, these are the feelings that he wants to feel.  

Yukhei draws back, surprising warring with joy and Donghyuck is breathless. There’s a smile, and it’s secretive and theirs. And when Yukhei glances up at Mark and Jeno, surprisingly silent considering how loud they were being moments before, there’s something in his eyes that is almost Slytherin.

Yukhei mounts his broom.

‘Do you trust me?’ he asks.

Donghyuck does, and he hugs Yukhei tight as they kick off from the ground, rising higher and higher into the sky.

This is the boy that makes sense.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the end. 
> 
> i know i always said this fic was going to be ten chapters, but then i realised that this is where it was always supposed to go. i hope you enjoyed it, and i hope you were not disappointed by it. this is, by no means, the end of this verse but only donghyuck's particular arc so stay tuned in the future. thank you for following this fic, thank you for enjoying it and i hope to write more of the verse soon.
> 
>  
> 
> (after all,,, i promised a lot of you on twitter that there would be dragons.)


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